Year: 2022
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Neutralizing antibody plays a key role in protective immunity against COVID-19. As increasingly distinct variants circulate, debate continues regarding the value of adding novel variants to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. In this study, we have analyzed live virus neutralization titers against WA1, Delta, BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5 in 187 hospitalized patients infected with Delta or Omicron strains. This information will be useful in selection of the SARS-CoV-2 strains to include in an updated vaccine. Our results show that unvaccinated Delta infected patients made a highly biased neutralizing antibody response towards the infecting Delta strain with slightly lower responses against the WA1 strain, but with strikingly lower titers against BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5. Delta infected patients that had been previously vaccinated with the WA1 containing COVID vaccine made equivalent responses to WA1 and Delta strains, but still had very low neutralizing antibody responses to Omicron strains. In striking contrast, both unvaccinated and vaccinated Omicron patients exhibited a more balanced ratio of Omicron virus neutralization compared to neutralization of ancestral strains. Interestingly, Omicron patients infected with BA.1 or BA.2 had detectable neutralizing antibody titers to BA.5, but these titers were lower than neutralization titers to BA.1 and BA.2. Taken together, these results suggest that inclusion of the Omicron BA.5 strain in a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine would be beneficial in protection against the widely circulating BA.5 variant. Disclaimer The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Source: medRxiv
Authors: Susanne L. Linderman, Lilin Lai, Estefany L. Bocangel Gamarra, Nicholas M. Mohr, Kevin W. Gibbs, Jay S. Steingrub, Matthew C. Exline, Nathan I. Shapiro, Anne E. Frosch, Nida Qadir, Srilatha Edupuganti, Diya Surie, Mark W. Tenforde, Meredith E. Davis-Gardner, James D. Chappell, Max S Y Lau, M. Juliana McElrath, Adam S. Lauring, Mehul S. Suthar, Manish M. Patel, Wesley H. Self, Rafi Ahmed
Institutions: Emory University, University of Iowa, University of Iowa Health Care, Wake Forest University Health Sciences, Wake Forest University, Baystate Medical Center, Baystate Health, The Ohio State University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Hennepin County Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, University of Michigan, Vanderbilt University
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4293793708