Neutralization escape of Omicron XBB, BR.2, and BA.2.3.20 subvariants
Julia N. Faraone, Panke Qu, John P. Evans, Yi-Min Zheng, Claire Carlin, Mirela Anghelina, Patrick Stevens, Soledad Fernández, Daniel M. Jones, Gerard Lozanski, Ashish R. Panchal, Linda J. Saif, Eugene M. Oltz, Richard J. Gumina, Shan‐Lu Liu
Abstract
New Omicron subvariants continue to emerge throughout the world. In particular, the XBB subvariant, which is a recombinant virus between BA.2.10.1.1 and BA.2.75.3.1.1.1, as well as the BA.2.3.20 and BR.2 subvariants that contain mutations distinct from BA.2 and BA.2.75, are currently increasing in proportion of variants sequenced. Here we show that antibodies induced by 3-dose mRNA booster vaccination as well as BA.1- and BA.4/5-wave infection effectively neutralize BA.2, BR.2, and BA.2.3.20 but have significantly reduced efficiency against XBB. In addition, the BA.2.3.20 subvariant exhibits enhanced infectivity in the lung-derived CaLu-3 cells and in 293T-ACE2 cells. Overall, our results demonstrate that the XBB subvariant is highly neutralization resistant, which highlights the need for continued monitoring of the immune escape and tissue tropism of emerging Omicron subvariants.