Humanigen Inc (HGENQ)

[DonDonDonDon]

New trial showing that BA.4 and BA.5 are more infectious and cause more severe illness than BA.2. The worst of both worlds. Hospitalizations are sure to rise.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.26.493539v1

After the global spread of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.2 lineage, some BA.2-related variants that acquire mutations in the L452 residue of spike protein, such as BA.2.9.1 and BA.2.13 (L452M), BA.2.12.1 (L452Q), and BA.2.11, BA.4 and BA.5 (L452R), emerged in multiple countries. Our statistical analysis showed that the effective reproduction numbers of these L452R/M/Q-bearing BA.2-related Omicron variants are greater than that of the original BA.2. Neutralization experiments revealed that the immunity induced by BA.1 and BA.2 infections is less effective against BA.4/5. Cell culture experiments showed that BA.2.12.1 and BA.4/5 replicate more efficiently in human alveolar epithelial cells than BA.2, and particularly, BA.4/5 is more fusogenic than BA.2. Furthermore, infection experiments using hamsters indicated that BA.4/5 is more pathogenic than BA.2. Altogether, our multiscale investigations suggest that the risk of L452R/M/Q-bearing BA.2-related Omicron variants, particularly BA.4 and BA.5, to global health is potentially greater than that of original BA.2.

Excellent Twitter thread from one of the authors of the study:

BREAKING🔔 The 10th preprint from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at @biorxivpreprint. #Omicron BA.4 & BA.5 variants seem to be more contagious and pathogenic than BA.2 variant. Please RT. 1/7https://t.co/UjNFtAAADW

— The Sato Lab (Kei Sato) (@SystemsVirology) May 26, 2022