Presentation
Mutation Count Alone does not Predict the Severity of Common Variants of SARS-CoV-2
Presenter
DescriptionSARS-CoV-2 Omicron variants BA.2.86 and JN.1 have mutations that have raised concerns over their health impact. Genomic surveillance of JN.1 has shown it to be the dominant variant circulating in the USA.
Empirical studies on immune evasion and transmissibility on BA.2.86 and JN.1 are contradictory. To assess immune evasion of BA.2.86 and JN.1, we performed in silico analyses of the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 variants. We calculated the relative binding affinity of neutralizing antibodies derived from vaccinated patients, infected patients, and therapy to the RBDs. To assess transmissibility, we calculated the relative binding affinity of the RBDs to the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme-2 (ACE2) host cell receptor.
We found minor changes in some binding affinity metrics for neutralizing antibodies and ACE2 to RBDs of BA.2.86 and JN.1. However, most changes are not statistically significant. We conclude that BA.2.86 and JN.1 have inconsequential changes in immune evasion or transmissibility. We caution that genomic surveillance that counts mutations and the prevalence of a variant does not reveal the functional and health impacts of the variant. In concordance with our results, there has not been a surge on hospitals in the USA with the rise in the prevalence of BA.2.86 and JN.1.
Empirical studies on immune evasion and transmissibility on BA.2.86 and JN.1 are contradictory. To assess immune evasion of BA.2.86 and JN.1, we performed in silico analyses of the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 variants. We calculated the relative binding affinity of neutralizing antibodies derived from vaccinated patients, infected patients, and therapy to the RBDs. To assess transmissibility, we calculated the relative binding affinity of the RBDs to the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme-2 (ACE2) host cell receptor.
We found minor changes in some binding affinity metrics for neutralizing antibodies and ACE2 to RBDs of BA.2.86 and JN.1. However, most changes are not statistically significant. We conclude that BA.2.86 and JN.1 have inconsequential changes in immune evasion or transmissibility. We caution that genomic surveillance that counts mutations and the prevalence of a variant does not reveal the functional and health impacts of the variant. In concordance with our results, there has not been a surge on hospitals in the USA with the rise in the prevalence of BA.2.86 and JN.1.
TimeTuesday, June 416:30 - 17:00 CEST
LocationHG F 26.5
SessionMS4H - Synergizing AI and HPC for Pandemic Preparedness with Genomics and Clinical Risk Assessment
Session Chairs
Event Type
Minisymposium
Chemistry and Materials
Engineering
Life Sciences
Computational Methods and Applied Mathematics