TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparative pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants including BA.1, BA.2, and BA.5
AU - The Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan) Consortium
AU - Tamura, Tomokazu
AU - Yamasoba, Daichi
AU - Oda, Yoshitaka
AU - Ito, Jumpei
AU - Kamasaki, Tomoko
AU - Nao, Naganori
AU - Hashimoto, Rina
AU - Fujioka, Yoichiro
AU - Suzuki, Rigel
AU - Wang, Lei
AU - Ito, Hayato
AU - Kashima, Yukie
AU - Kimura, Izumi
AU - Kishimoto, Mai
AU - Tsuda, Masumi
AU - Sawa, Hirofumi
AU - Yoshimatsu, Kumiko
AU - Yamamoto, Yuki
AU - Nagamoto, Tetsuharu
AU - Kanamune, Jun
AU - Suzuki, Yutaka
AU - Ohba, Yusuke
AU - Suzuki, Saori
AU - Kato, Marie
AU - Ferdous, Zannatul
AU - Mouri, Hiromi
AU - Shishido, Kenji
AU - Misawa, Naoko
AU - Uriu, Keiya
AU - Kosugi, Yusuke
AU - Fujita, Shigeru
AU - Suganami, Mai
AU - Chiba, Mika
AU - Yoshimura, Ryo
AU - Nakagawa, So
AU - Wu, Jiaqi
AU - Takaori-Kondo, Akifumi
AU - Shirakawa, Kotaro
AU - Nagata, Kayoko
AU - Kazuma, Yasuhiro
AU - Nomura, Ryosuke
AU - Horisawa, Yoshihito
AU - Tashiro, Yusuke
AU - Kawai, Yugo
AU - Hashiguchi, Takao
AU - Suzuki, Tateki
AU - Kimura, Kanako
AU - Motozono, Chihiro
AU - Tabata, Kaori
AU - Fukuhara, Takasuke
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).
PY - 2023/12
Y1 - 2023/12
N2 - The unremitting emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants necessitates ongoing control measures. Given its rapid spread, the new Omicron subvariant BA.5 requires urgent characterization. Here, we comprehensively analyzed BA.5 with the other Omicron variants BA.1, BA.2, and ancestral B.1.1. Although in vitro growth kinetics of BA.5 was comparable among the Omicron subvariants, BA.5 was much more fusogenic than BA.1 and BA.2. Airway-on-a-chip analysis showed that, among Omicron subvariants, BA.5 had enhanced ability to disrupt the respiratory epithelial and endothelial barriers. Furthermore, in our hamster model, in vivo pathogenicity of BA.5 was slightly higher than that of the other Omicron variants and less than that of ancestral B.1.1. Notably, BA.5 gains efficient virus spread compared with BA.1 and BA.2, leading to prompt immune responses. Our findings suggest that BA.5 has low pathogenicity compared with the ancestral strain but enhanced virus spread /inflammation compared with earlier Omicron subvariants.
AB - The unremitting emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants necessitates ongoing control measures. Given its rapid spread, the new Omicron subvariant BA.5 requires urgent characterization. Here, we comprehensively analyzed BA.5 with the other Omicron variants BA.1, BA.2, and ancestral B.1.1. Although in vitro growth kinetics of BA.5 was comparable among the Omicron subvariants, BA.5 was much more fusogenic than BA.1 and BA.2. Airway-on-a-chip analysis showed that, among Omicron subvariants, BA.5 had enhanced ability to disrupt the respiratory epithelial and endothelial barriers. Furthermore, in our hamster model, in vivo pathogenicity of BA.5 was slightly higher than that of the other Omicron variants and less than that of ancestral B.1.1. Notably, BA.5 gains efficient virus spread compared with BA.1 and BA.2, leading to prompt immune responses. Our findings suggest that BA.5 has low pathogenicity compared with the ancestral strain but enhanced virus spread /inflammation compared with earlier Omicron subvariants.
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U2 - 10.1038/s42003-023-05081-w
DO - 10.1038/s42003-023-05081-w
M3 - Article
C2 - 37488344
AN - SCOPUS:85165758897
SN - 2399-3642
VL - 6
JO - Communications Biology
JF - Communications Biology
IS - 1
M1 - 772
ER -