2. Academic Validation
  3. Virological features and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2

Virological features and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2

  • Cell Rep Med. 2022 Sep 20;3(9):100743. doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100743.
Jasper Fuk-Woo Chan 1,  Bingjie Hu 2,  Yue Chai 2,  Huiping Shuai 2,  Huan Liu 2,  Jialu Shi 2,  Yuanchen Liu 2,  Chaemin Yoon 2,  Jinjin Zhang 2,  Jing-Chu Hu 3,  Yuxin Hou 2,  Xiner Huang 2,  Terrence Tsz-Tai Yuen 2,  Tianrenzheng Zhu 2,  Wenjun Li 3,  Jian-Piao Cai 2,  Cuiting Luo 2,  Cyril Chik-Yan Yip 4,  Anna Jinxia Zhang 5,  Jie Zhou 5,  Shuofeng Yuan 6,  Bao-Zhong Zhang 3,  Jian-Dong Huang 7,  Kelvin Kai-Wang To 8,  Kwok-Yung Yuen 1,  Hin Chu 9
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China; Centre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Academician Workstation of Hainan Province, Hainan Medical University-The University of Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Tropical Infectious Diseases, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, Hainan, China; Department of Microbiology, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangdong Province, China.
  • 2 State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
  • 3 CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
  • 4 Department of Microbiology, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
  • 5 State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Centre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
  • 6 State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China; Centre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
  • 7 CAS Key Laboratory of Quantitative Engineering Biology, Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China; School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, the University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China.
  • 8 State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China; Centre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Department of Microbiology, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangdong Province, China.
  • 9 State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases, Department of Microbiology, Carol Yu Centre for Infection, School of Clinical Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China; Department of Infectious Disease and Microbiology, The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China; Centre for Virology, Vaccinology and Therapeutics, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 36084644 DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2022.100743
Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron BA.2 was a dominant circulating SARS-CoV-2 variant worldwide. Recent reports hint that BA.2 is similarly potent regarding antibody evasion but may be more transmissible than BA.1. The pathogenicity of BA.2 remains unclear and is of critical public health significance. Here we investigated the virological features and pathogenicity of BA.2 with in vitro and in vivo models. We show that BA.2 is less dependent on transmembrane protease serine 2 (TMPRSS2) for virus entry in comparison with BA.1 in vitro. In K18-hACE2 mice, BA.2 replicates more efficiently than BA.1 in the nasal turbinates and replicates marginally less efficiently in the lungs, leading to decreased body weight loss and improved survival. Our study indicates that BA.2 is similarly attenuated in lungs compared with BA.1 but is potentially more transmissible because of its better replication at the nasal turbinates.

Keywords

BA.1; BA.2; COVID-19; Omicron; SARS-CoV-2; TMPRSS2; pathogenicity; replication.

Figures
Products