Reuschl, Ann-Kathrin;
Thorne, Lucy G;
Whelan, Matthew VX;
Ragazzini, Roberta;
Furnon, Wilhelm;
Cowton, Vanessa M;
De Lorenzo, Giuditta;
... Towers, Greg J; + view all
(2024)
Evolution of enhanced innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants.
Nature Microbiology
10.1038/s41564-023-01588-4.
(In press).
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Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) human adaptation resulted in distinct lineages with enhanced transmissibility called variants of concern (VOCs). Omicron is the first VOC to evolve distinct globally dominant subvariants. Here we compared their replication in human cell lines and primary airway cultures and measured host responses to infection. We discovered that subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 have improved their suppression of innate immunity when compared with earlier subvariants BA.1 and BA.2. Similarly, more recent subvariants (BA.2.75 and XBB lineages) also triggered reduced innate immune activation. This correlated with increased expression of viral innate antagonists Orf6 and nucleocapsid, reminiscent of VOCs Alpha to Delta. Increased Orf6 levels suppressed host innate responses to infection by decreasing IRF3 and STAT1 signalling measured by transcription factor phosphorylation and nuclear translocation. Our data suggest that convergent evolution of enhanced innate immune antagonist expression is a common pathway of human adaptation and link Omicron subvariant dominance to improved innate immune evasion.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Evolution of enhanced innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41564-023-01588-4 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01588-4 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Infection and Immunity |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10185798 |
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