Antigenic cartography using hamster sera identifies SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 evasion seen in human XBB.1.5 booster sera

WANG, W.; Bhushan, G. L.; Paz, S.; Stauft, C. B.; Selvaraj, P.; Goguet, E.; Bishop-Lilly, K. A.; Subramanian, R.; Vassell, R.; Lusvarghi, S.; Cong, Y.; Agan, B.; Richard, S. A.; Epsi, N.; Fries, A.; Fung, C. K.; Conte, M.; Holbrook, M.; Wang, T. T.; Burgess, T. H.; Mitre, E.; Pollett, S.; Katzelnick, L.; Weiss, C. D.

doi:10.1101/2024.04.05.588359

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2024.04.05.588359

Antigenic cartography using hamster sera identifies SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 evasion seen in human XBB.1.5 booster sera

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Abstract

Antigenic assessments of SARS-CoV-2 variants inform decisions to update COVID-19 vaccines. Primary infection sera are often used for assessments, but such sera are rare due to population immunity from SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 vaccinations. Here, we show that neutralization titers and breadth of matched human and hamster pre-Omicron variant primary infection sera correlate well and generate similar antigenic maps. The hamster antigenic map shows modest antigenic drift among XBB sub-lineage variants, with JN.1 and BA.4/BA.5 variants within the XBB cluster, but with five to six-fold antigenic differences between these variants and XBB.1.5. Compared to sera following only ancestral or bivalent COVID-19 vaccinations, or with post-vaccination infections, XBB.1.5 booster sera had the broadest neutralization against XBB sub-lineage variants, although a five-fold titer difference was still observed between JN.1 and XBB.1.5 variants. These findings suggest that antibody coverage of antigenically divergent JN.1 could be improved with a matched vaccine antigen.

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WANG, W., Bhushan, G. L., Paz, S., Stauft, C. B., Selvaraj, P., Goguet, E., Bishop-Lilly, K. A., Subramanian, R., Vassell, R., Lusvarghi, S., Cong, Y., Agan, B., Richard, S. A., Epsi, N., Fries, A., Fung, C. K., Conte, M., Holbrook, M., Wang, T. T., Burgess, T. H., Mitre, E., Pollett, S., Katzelnick, L., Weiss, C. D.. 2024-04-06. Antigenic cartography using hamster sera identifies SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 evasion seen in human XBB.1.5 booster sera. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.05.588359

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