Journal
CELL
Volume 185, Issue 12, Pages 2103-+Publisher
CELL PRESS
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.04.035
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- AMED Research Program on Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases [20fk0108268, 20fk0108517, 20fk0108401, 20fk010847, 21fk0108617, 20fk0108146, 20fk0108270, 20fk0108413, 20fk0108451]
- AMED Research Program on HIV/AIDS [21fk0410034, 21fk0410033, 21fk0410039]
- AMED CRDF Global Grant [21jk0210039]
- AMED Japan Program for Infectious Diseases Research and Infrastructure [21wm0325009, 21wm0125008, 21wm0225003]
- JST A-STEP [JPMJTM20SL]
- JST SICORP (e-ASIA) [JPMJSC20U1]
- JST SICORP [JPMJSC21U5]
- JST CREST [JPMJCR20H4]
- JSPS KAKENHI [19K06382, 22K07103, 21H02736, 18H02662, 21H02737, 22K16375, 20K15767]
- JSPS Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research) [18KK0447]
- JSPS Core-to-Core Program (A. Advanced Research Networks) [JPJSCCA20190008]
- JSPS [19J20488]
- JSPS Leading Initiative for Excellent Young Researchers (LEADER)
- World-leading Innovative and Smart Education (WISE) Program 1801 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
- Tokyo Biochemical Research Foundation
- Mitsubishi Foundation
- Shin-Nihon Foundation of Advanced Medical Publishing Research
- Tsuchiya Foundation
- Research Institute for Microbial Dis- eases, Osaka University
- Kumamoto University COVID-19 Research Projects (AMABIE)
- Intercontinental Research and Educational Platform Aiming for Eradication of HIV/AIDS
- Joint Usage/Research Center program of Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University
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Research has shown that the Omicron lineage BA.1 has been outpaced by a new Omicron lineage, BA.2, which is more transmissible. Immunity induced by COVID vaccines does not effectively protect against BA.2, similar to BA.1, and BA.2 has notable antigenic differences from BA.1. BA.2 spike shows higher replication efficacy and cell fusion capability compared to BA.1 spike. Infection experiments on hamsters indicate that BA.2 spike-bearing virus is more pathogenic than BA.1 spike-bearing virus. Overall, these findings suggest that the risk of BA.2 to global health is potentially higher than that of BA.1.
Soon after the emergence and global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lineage BA.1, another Omicron lineage, BA.2, began outcompeting BA.1. The results of statistical analysis showed that the effective reproduction number of BA.2 is 1.4-fold higher than that of BA.1. Neutralization experiments revealed that immunity induced by COVID vaccines widely administered to human populations is not effective against BA.2, similar to BA.1, and that the antigenicity of BA.2 is notably different from that of BA.1. Cell culture experiments showed that the BA.2 spike confers higher replication efficacy in human nasal epithelial cells and is more efficient in mediating syncytia formation than the BA.1 spike. Furthermore, infection experiments using hamsters indicated that the BA.2 spike-bearing virus is more pathogenic than the BA.1 spike-bearing virus. Altogether, the results of our multiscale investigations suggest that the risk of BA.2 to global health is potentially higher than that of BA.1.
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