Warning: This is a preliminary report that has not been peer-reviewed. It should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or be reported in news media as established information.

Saito A, Tamura T, Zahradnik J, Deguchi S, Tabata K, Kimura I, Ito J, Nasser H, Toyoda M, Nagata K, Uriu K, Kosugi Y, Fujita S, Yamasoba D, Shofa M, Begum MM, Oda Y, Suzuki R, Ito H, Nao N, Wang L, Tsuda M, Yoshimatsu K, Yamamoto Y, Nagamoto T, Asakura H, Nagashima M, Sadamasu K, Yoshimura K, Ueno T, Schreiber G, Takaori-Kondo A, The Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium, Shirakawa K, Sawa H, Irie T, Takayama K, Matsuno K, Tanaka S, Ikeda T, Fukuhara T, Sato K

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2.75 emerged in May 2022. BA.2.75 is a BA.2 descendant but is phylogenetically different from BA.5, the currently predominant BA.2 descendant. Here, we showed that the effective reproduction number of BA.2.75 is greater than that of BA.5. While the sensitivity of BA.2.75 to vaccination- and BA.1/2 breakthrough infection-induced ...

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humoral immunity was comparable to that of BA.2, the immunogenicity of BA.2.75 was different from that of BA.2 and BA.5. Three clinically-available antiviral drugs were effective against BA.2.75. BA.2.75 spike exhibited a profound higher affinity to human ACE2 than BA.2 and BA.5 spikes. The fusogenicity, growth efficiency in human alveolar epithelial cells, and intrinsic pathogenicity in hamsters of BA.2.75 were comparable to those of BA.5 but were greater than those of BA.2. Our multiscale investigations suggest that BA.2.75 acquired virological properties independently of BA.5, and the potential risk of BA.2.75 to global health is greater than that of BA.5.

Date: Aug. 08, 2022

Status: Preliminary Report

View Source: doi: 10.1101/2022.08.07.503115

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