Antigenic cartography using hamster sera identifies SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 evasion seen in human XBB.1.5 booster sera

Wei Wang; Gitanjali L. Bhushan; Stephanie Paz; Charles B. Stauft; Prabhuanand Selvaraj; Emilie Goguet; Kimberly A. Bishop‐Lilly; Rahul Subramanian; Russell A. Vassell; Sabrina Lusvarghi; Yu Cong; Brian K. Agan; Stephanie A Richard; Nusrat J Epsi; Anthony C Fries; Christian K. Fung; Matthew A. Conte; Michael R. Holbrook; Tony T. Wang; Timothy H. Burgess; Edward Mitre; Simon D. Pollett; Leah C. Katzelnick; Carol D. Weiss

doi:10.1128/jvi.00948-24

MicrobiologyJournal of VirologyOct 4, 2024

Peer-reviewed journal article

Antigenic cartography using hamster sera identifies SARS-CoV-2 JN.1 evasion seen in human XBB.1.5 booster sera

Wei Wang iD, Gitanjali L. Bhushan iD, Stephanie Paz, Charles B. Stauft iD, Prabhuanand Selvaraj iD, Emilie Goguet iD, Kimberly A. Bishop‐Lilly iD, Rahul Subramanian iD, Russell A. Vassell iD, Sabrina Lusvarghi iD, Yu Cong iD, Brian K. Agan iD, Stephanie A Richard iD, Nusrat J Epsi iD, Anthony C Fries iD, Christian K. Fung, Matthew A. Conte iD, Michael R. Holbrook iD, Tony T. Wang iD, Timothy H. Burgess iD, Edward Mitre, Simon D. Pollett iD, Leah C. Katzelnick iD, Carol D. Weiss iD

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Abstract

Antigenic assessments of SARS-CoV-2 variants inform decisions to update COVID-19 vaccines. Primary infection sera are often used for assessments, but such sera are rare due to population immunity from SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 vaccinations. Here, we show that neutralization titers and breadth of matched human and hamster pre-Omicron variant primary infection sera correlate well and generate similar antigenic maps. The hamster antigenic map shows modest antigenic drift among XBB sub-lineage variants, with JN.1 and BA.4/BA.5 variants within the XBB cluster, but with five to six-fold antigenic differences between these variants and XBB.1.5. Compared to sera following only ancestral or bivalent COVID-19 vaccinations, or with post-vaccination infections, XBB.1.5 booster sera had the broadest neutralization against XBB sub-lineage variants, although a five-fold titer difference was still observed between JN.1 and XBB.1.5 variants. These findings suggest that antibody coverage of antigenically divergent JN.1 could be improved with a matched vaccine antigen.