SARS-CoV-2 Omicron is an immune escape variant with an altered cell entry pathway

• Published in: Nature microbiology Vol. 7; no. 8; pp. 1161 - 1179
• Main Authors: Willett, Brian J., Grove, Joe, MacLean, Oscar A., Wilkie, Craig, De Lorenzo, Giuditta, Furnon, Wilhelm, Cantoni, Diego, Scott, Sam, Logan, Nicola, Ashraf, Shirin, Manali, Maria, Szemiel, Agnieszka, Cowton, Vanessa, Vink, Elen, Harvey, William T., Davis, Chris, Asamaphan, Patawee, Smollett, Katherine, Tong, Lily, Orton, Richard, Hughes, Joseph, Holland, Poppy, Silva, Vanessa, Pascall, David J., Puxty, Kathryn, da Silva Filipe, Ana, Yebra, Gonzalo, Shaaban, Sharif, Holden, Matthew T. G., Pinto, Rute Maria, Gunson, Rory, Templeton, Kate, Murcia, Pablo R., Patel, Arvind H., Klenerman, Paul, Dunachie, Susanna, Haughney, John, Robertson, David L., Palmarini, Massimo, Ray, Surajit, Thomson, Emma C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.08.2022; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13/1; 13/106; 38/35; 42/109; 631/250; 631/250/590; 631/337; 692/699/255/2514; Amino acids; Antibodies, Viral; Antigenicity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; BNT162 Vaccine; Cell fusion; COVID-19; Fusion protein; Humans; Immune evasion; Infectious Diseases; Life Sciences; Medical Microbiology; Membrane Glycoproteins - metabolism; Microbiology; mRNA; Parasitology; Pathogenicity; Peptide mapping; Phenotypes; Proteins; Public health; Replication; SARS-CoV-2 - genetics; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus - genetics; Spike protein; Syncytia; Vaccine efficacy; Vaccines; Viral Envelope Proteins - metabolism; Virology; Virus Internalization

Vaccines based on the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 are a cornerstone of the public health response to COVID-19. The emergence of hypermutated, increasingly transmissible variants of concern (VOCs) threaten this strategy. Omicron (B.1.1.529), the fifth VOC to be described, harbours multiple amino acid...