Epidemiological characterisation of the first 785 SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant cases in Denmark, December 2021

Espenhain, Laura; Funk, Tjede; Overvad, Maria; Edslev, Sofie Marie; Fonager, Jannik; Ingham, Anna Cäcilia; Rasmussen, Morten; Madsen, Sarah Leth; Espersen, Caroline; Sieber, Raphael N.; Stegger, Marc; Gunalan, Vithiagaran; Wilkowski, Bartłomiej; Larsen, Nicolai Balle; Legarth, Rebecca; Cohen, Arieh; Nielsen, F.B.H.; Lam, Janni Uyen Hoa; Lavik, Kjetil Erdogan; Karakis, Marianne; Spieß, Katja; Marving, Ellinor; Nielsen, Christoffer Tandrup; Svarrer, Christina Wiid; Bybjerg‐Grauholm, Jonas; Olsen, Stefan S.; Jensen, Anders Møller; Krause, Tyra Grove; Müller, Luise

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.es.2021.26.50.2101146

Cited by 180 publications

(157 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Our experiments suggest that compared to other SARS-CoV-2 isolates (e.g., B.1.351 or B.1.617.2), the B.1.1.529 Omicron variant infection is attenuated in laboratory mice and hamsters for causing infection and/or disease. While these results are consistent with the very preliminary clinical data in humans suggesting that B.1.1.529 causes a more transmissible yet possibly milder respiratory infection 40,41 , the basis for the attenuation in rodents remains unknown. One pre-print study suggests that B.1.1.529 replicates faster in the human bronchus and less in lung cells, which may explain its greater transmissibility and putative lower disease severity 42 ; although it remains unclear if these observations extend to rodents, we observed less infection of hamster bronchial cells in vivo with B.1.1.529 Omicron than B.1.617.2 Delta virus.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron virus causes attenuated infection and disease in mice and hamsters

Diamond

Halfmann

Maemura³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Despite the development and deployment of antibody and vaccine countermeasures, rapidly-spreading SARS-CoV-2 variants with mutations at key antigenic sites in the spike protein jeopardize their efficacy. The recent emergence of B.1.1.529, the Omicron variant1,2, which has more than 30 mutations in the spike protein, has raised concerns for escape from protection by vaccines and therapeutic antibodies. A key test for potential countermeasures against B.1.1.529 is their activity in pre-clinical rodent models of respiratory tract disease. Here, using the collaborative network of the SARS-CoV-2 Assessment of Viral Evolution (SAVE) program of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), we evaluated the ability of multiple B.1.1.529 Omicron isolates to cause infection and disease in immunocompetent and human ACE2 (hACE2) expressing mice and hamsters. Despite modeling and binding data suggesting that B.1.1.529 spike can bind more avidly to murine ACE2, we observed attenuation of infection in 129, C57BL/6, and BALB/c mice as compared with previous SARS-CoV-2 variants, with limited weight loss and lower viral burden in the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Although K18-hACE2 transgenic mice sustained infection in the lungs, these animals did not lose weight. In wild-type and hACE2 transgenic hamsters, lung infection, clinical disease, and pathology with B.1.1.529 also were milder compared to historical isolates or other SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. Overall, experiments from multiple independent laboratories of the SAVE/NIAID network with several different B.1.1.529 isolates demonstrate attenuated lung disease in rodents, which parallels preliminary human clinical data.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron virus causes attenuated infection and disease in mice and hamsters

Diamond

Halfmann

Maemura³

et al. 2021

Preprint

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show abstract

“…They highlight the rapid spread of this variant and the ability to induce super-spreading events and that a high proportion of the infected was fully vaccinated. Since there is a lag time from infection to hospitalization and death, and this variant has only recently been discovered, sufficient data is not available to make conclusions on the severity of this variant yet [13].…”

Section: (Which Was Not Certified By Peer Review) Preprintmentioning

confidence: 99%

Omicron outbreak at a private gathering in the Faroe Islands, infecting 21 of 33 triple-vaccinated healthcare workers

Helmsdal¹,

Hansen

Møller

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…The rapid global spread of the Omicron VOC has been associated with vaccine-breakthrough infections and re-infections 16,17 . Moreover, like previous findings that the Beta VOC compromised vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody (NAb) 12,18,19 , the Omicron VOC has resulted in even worse NAb evasion due to more than 30 alarming mutations in SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein [20][21][22][23] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to the GASAID database, for example, the relative variant genome frequency of the current circulating Delta VOC has declined from 89% to 19.6% while the Omicron VOC has increased from 0% to 67.4% in African countries during the period from October 4, 2021, to December 26, 2021. The rapid global spread of the Omicron VOC has been associated with vaccine-breakthrough infections and re-infections 16,17 . Moreover, like previous findings that the Beta VOC compromised vaccine-induced neutralizing antibody (NAb) 12,18,19 , the Omicron VOC has resulted in even worse NAb evasion due to more than 30 alarming mutations in SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein 20-23 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An elite broadly neutralizing antibody protects SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant challenge

Zhou

Chan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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The strikingly high transmissibility and antibody evasion of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant have posted great challenges on the efficacy of current vaccines and antibody immunotherapy. Here, we screened 34 BNT162b2-vaccinees and cloned a public broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) ZCB11 from an elite vaccinee. ZCB11 neutralized all authentic SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs), including Omicron and OmicronR346K with potent IC50 concentrations of 36.8 and 11.7 ng/mL, respectively. Functional analysis demonstrated that ZCB11 targeted viral receptor-binding domain (RBD) and competed strongly with ZB8, a known RBD-specific class II NAb. Pseudovirus-based mapping of 57 naturally occurred single mutations or deletions revealed that only S371L resulted in 11-fold neutralization resistance, but this phenotype was not observed in the Omicron variant. Furthermore, prophylactic ZCB11 administration protected lung infection against both the circulating pandemic Delta and Omicron variants in golden Syrian hamsters. These results demonstrated that vaccine-induced ZCB11 is a promising bNAb for immunotherapy against pandemic SARS-CoV-2 VOCs.

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Epidemiological characterisation of the first 785 SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant cases in Denmark, December 2021

Cited by 180 publications

References 5 publications

The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron virus causes attenuated infection and disease in mice and hamsters

The SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.529 Omicron virus causes attenuated infection and disease in mice and hamsters

Omicron outbreak at a private gathering in the Faroe Islands, infecting 21 of 33 triple-vaccinated healthcare workers

An elite broadly neutralizing antibody protects SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant challenge

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