Immune boosting by B.1.1.529 <b>(</b> Omicron) depends on previous SARS-CoV-2 exposure
Catherine J. Reynolds, Corinna Pade, Joseph M. Gibbons, Ashley Otter, Kai‐Min Lin, Diana Mūnoz Sandoval, Franziska P. Pieper, David K. Butler, Siyi Liu, George Joy, Nasim Forooghi, Thomas A. Treibel, Charlotte Manisty, James Moon, COVIDsortium Investigators§, COVIDsortium Immune Correlates Network§, Amanda Semper, Tim Brooks, Áine McKnight, Daniel M. Altmann, Rosemary J. Boyton, Hakam Abbass, Aderonke Abiodun, Mashael Alfarih, Zoe Alldis, Daniel M. Altmann, Oliver E. Amin, Mervyn Andiapen, Jessica Artico, João B. Augusto, Georgina L. Baca, Sasha N. L. Bailey, Anish Bhuva, Alex Boulter, Ruth Bowles, Rosemary J. Boyton, Olivia V. Bracken, Benjamin O’Brien, Tim Brooks, Natalie Bullock, David K. Butler, Gabriella Captur, Olívia Carr, Nicola Champion, Carmen K. M. Chan, Aneesh Chandran, Tom W. Coleman, Jorge Couto de Sousa, Xosé Couto‐Parada, Eleanor R. Cross, Teresa Cutiño‐Moguel, Silvia D’Arcangelo, Rhodri Davies, Brooke Douglas, Cecilia Di Genova, Keenan Dieobi-Anene, Mariana O. Diniz, Anaya Ellis, Karen Feehan, Malcolm Finlay, Marianna Fontana, Nasim Forooghi, Sasha Francis, Joseph M. Gibbons, David Gillespie, Derek W. Gilroy, Matt Hamblin, Gabrielle Harker, Georgia Hemingway, Jacqueline Hewson, Wendy Heywood, Lauren M. Hickling, Bethany Hicks, Aroon D. Hingorani, Lee Hamill Howes, Ivie Itua, Victor Jardim, Wing-Yiu Jason Lee, Melaniepetra Jensen, Jessica Jones, Meleri Jones, George Joy, Vikas Kapil, Caoimhe Kelly, Hibba Kurdi, Jonathan Lambourne, Kai-Min Lin, Siyi Liu, Aaron Lloyd, Sarah Louth, Mala K. Maini, Vineela Mandadapu, Charlotte Manisty, Áine McKnight, Katia Menacho, Celina Mfuko, Ken Mills, Sebastian Millward, Oliver Mitchelmore, Christopher Moon
Abstract
The Omicron, or Pango lineage B.1.1.529, variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) carries multiple spike mutations with high transmissibility and partial neutralizing antibody (nAb) escape. Vaccinated individuals show protection against severe disease, often attributed to primed cellular immunity. We investigated T and B cell immunity against B.1.1.529 in triple BioNTech BNT162b2 messenger RNA-vaccinated health care workers (HCWs) with different SARS-CoV-2 infection histories. B and T cell immunity against previous variants of concern was enhanced in triple-vaccinated individuals, but the magnitude of T and B cell responses against B.1.1.529 spike protein was reduced. Immune imprinting by infection with the earlier B.1.1.7 (Alpha) variant resulted in less durable binding antibody against B.1.1.529. Previously infection-naïve HCWs who became infected during the B.1.1.529 wave showed enhanced immunity against earlier variants but reduced nAb potency and T cell responses against B.1.1.529 itself. Previous Wuhan Hu-1 infection abrogated T cell recognition and any enhanced cross-reactive neutralizing immunity on infection with B.1.1.529.