Booster of mRNA-1273 Strengthens SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Neutralization

Nicole A Doria-Rose; Xiaoying Shen; Stephen D Schmidt; Sijy O'Dell; Charlene McDanal; Wenhong Feng; Jin Tong; Amanda Eaton; Maha Maglinao; Haili Tang; Kelly E Manning; Venkata-Viswanadh Edara; Lilin Lai; Madison Ellis; Kathryn Moore; Katharine Floyd; Stephanie L Foster; Robert L Atmar; Kirsten E Lyke; Tongqing Zhou; Lingshu Wang; Yi Zhang; Martin R Gaudinski; Walker P Black; Ingelise Gordon; Mercy Guech; Julie E Ledgerwood; John N Misasi; Alicia Widge; Paul C Roberts; John Beigel; Bette Korber; Rolando Pajon; John R Mascola; Mehul S Suthar; David C Montefiori

doi:10.1101/2021.12.15.21267805

Booster of mRNA-1273 Strengthens SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Neutralization

medRxiv [Preprint]. 2021 Dec 20:2021.12.15.21267805. doi: 10.1101/2021.12.15.21267805.

Authors

Nicole A Doria-Rose¹, Xiaoying Shen², Stephen D Schmidt¹, Sijy O'Dell¹, Charlene McDanal², Wenhong Feng², Jin Tong², Amanda Eaton², Maha Maglinao³, Haili Tang², Kelly E Manning⁴, Venkata-Viswanadh Edara⁴, Lilin Lai⁴, Madison Ellis⁴, Kathryn Moore⁴, Katharine Floyd⁴, Stephanie L Foster⁴, Robert L Atmar⁵, Kirsten E Lyke⁶, Tongqing Zhou¹, Lingshu Wang¹, Yi Zhang¹, Martin R Gaudinski¹, Walker P Black¹, Ingelise Gordon¹, Mercy Guech¹, Julie E Ledgerwood¹, John N Misasi¹, Alicia Widge¹, Paul C Roberts⁷, John Beigel⁷, Bette Korber⁸, Rolando Pajon³, John R Mascola¹, Mehul S Suthar⁴, David C Montefiori²

Affiliations

¹ Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892.
² Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham NC 27710.
³ Moderna, Inc., Cambridge, MA.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics, Emory Vaccine Center, Yerkes National Primate Research Center Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
⁵ Departments of Medicine and Molecular Virology & Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.
⁶ Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health collaborating with the Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201.
⁷ Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
⁸ Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545.

Abstract

The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 is raising concerns because of its increased transmissibility and potential for reduced susceptibility to antibody neutralization. To assess the potential risk of this variant to existing vaccines, serum samples from mRNA-1273 vaccine recipients were tested for neutralizing activity against Omicron and compared to neutralization titers against D614G and Beta in live virus and pseudovirus assays. Omicron was 41-84-fold less sensitive to neutralization than D614G and 5.3-7.4-fold less sensitive than Beta when assayed with serum samples obtained 4 weeks after 2 standard inoculations with 100 μg mRNA-1273. A 50 μg boost increased Omicron neutralization titers and may substantially reduce the risk of symptomatic vaccine breakthrough infections.

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Preprint

Abstract

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