Characterization of Omicron BA.4.6, XBB, and BQ.1.1 subvariants in hamsters

During the Omicron wave, previous variants such as BA.2, BA.4, and BA.5 were replaced by newer variants with additional mutations in the spike protein. These variants, BA.4.6, BQ.1.1, and XBB, have spread in different countries with different degrees of success. Here, we evaluated the replicative ab...

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Published in:Communications biology 2024-03, Vol.7 (1), p.331-331, Article 331
Main Authors: Halfmann, Peter J., Iwatsuki-Horimoto, Kiyoko, Kuroda, Makoto, Hirata, Yuichiro, Yamayoshi, Seiya, Iida, Shun, Uraki, Ryuta, Ito, Mutsumi, Ueki, Hiroshi, Furusawa, Yuri, Sakai-Tagawa, Yuko, Kiso, Maki, Armbrust, Tammy, Spyra, Sam, Maeda, Ken, Wang, Zhongde, Imai, Masaki, Suzuki, Tadaki, Kawaoka, Yoshihiro
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/326/421
631/326/596/4130
ACE2
Amino acids
Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2
Animals
Animals, Genetically Modified
Antigens
Biological Assay
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Clinical isolates
COVID-19
Cricetinae
DNA Replication
Female
Females
Hibernation
Humans
Infections
Inflammation
Life Sciences
Lungs
Male
Mesocricetus
Mutation
Nose
Pandemics
Pathogenicity
Pneumonia
Proteins
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Spike protein
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Summary:During the Omicron wave, previous variants such as BA.2, BA.4, and BA.5 were replaced by newer variants with additional mutations in the spike protein. These variants, BA.4.6, BQ.1.1, and XBB, have spread in different countries with different degrees of success. Here, we evaluated the replicative ability and pathogenicity of BA.4.6, BQ1.1, and XBB clinical isolates in male Syrian hamsters. Although we found no substantial differences in weight change among hamsters infected with these Omicron subvariants, the replicative ability of BQ.1.1 and XBB in lung tissue was higher than that of BA.4.6 and BA.5. Of note, BQ.1.1 was lethal in both male and female transgenic human ACE2 hamsters. In competition assays, XBB replicated better than BQ.1.1 in the nasal turbinate tissues of female hamsters previously infected with Omicron BA.2. These results suggest that newer Omicron subvariants in the XBB family are still evolving and should be closely monitored. Omicron variants BQ.1.1 and XBB increased pathogenicity in wild-type hamsters, with BQ.1.1 showing higher mortality in human ACE2 transgenic hamsters compared to earlier Omicron variants..
ISSN:2399-3642
2399-3642
DOI:10.1038/s42003-024-06015-w