Emerg Microbes Infect . Application of "B+1" heterologous boosting strategy for preventing infection of SARS-CoV-2 variants with resistance to broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccines

[tetano]

Emerg Microbes Infect


. 2023 Mar 16;2192817.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2023.2192817. Online ahead of print.
Application of "B+1" heterologous boosting strategy for preventing infection of SARS-CoV-2 variants with resistance to broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccines


Zezhong Liu ¹ , Lu Lu ¹ , Shibo Jiang ¹



Affiliations

• PMID: 36927258
• DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2023.2192817

Abstract

First-generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccines based on different platforms have significantly reduced hospitalization and death. However, the constant evolution of SARS-CoV-2 has only prolonged the global pandemic. Recent emergence of the Omicron subvariants XBB and BQ.1.1 has posed an unprecedented challenge to the efficacy of current broad-spectrum SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Several lines of evidence have demonstrated that the majority of the therapeutic monoclonal neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) lost their activities against XBB and BQ.1.1 [1,2]. Dramatic decline of the neutralizing antibody titer against XBB and BQ.1.1 was founded in the sera from vaccinees and infected persons [2,3]. Some SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants, such as XBB and BQ.1.1, are even more resistant than SARS-CoV to NAbs elicited by SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain, although there are about 50 different amino acids between RBDs of SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain and SARS-CoV, and 21 different amino acids between RBDs of SARS-CoV-2 ancestral strain and BQ.1.1, suggesting that the global pandemic has remarkably promoted the immune escape mutations of some Omicron subvariants. This calls for the development of a novel immunization strategy to prevent infection from dominantly circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants with exceptional resistance to neutralizing antibodies elicited by broad-spectrum vaccines, such as XBB and BQ.1.1.