IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v603y2022i7902d10.1038_s41586-022-04479-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant replication in human bronchus and lung ex vivo

Author

Listed:
  • Kenrie P. Y. Hui

    (The University of Hong Kong
    Centre for Immunology and Infection (C2I), Hong Kong Science Park)

  • John C. W. Ho

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Man-chun Cheung

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Ka-chun Ng

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Rachel H. H. Ching

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Ka-ling Lai

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Tonia Tong Kam

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Haogao Gu

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Ko-Yung Sit

    (Queen Mary Hospital)

  • Michael K. Y. Hsin

    (Queen Mary Hospital)

  • Timmy W. K. Au

    (Queen Mary Hospital)

  • Leo L. M. Poon

    (The University of Hong Kong
    Centre for Immunology and Infection (C2I), Hong Kong Science Park)

  • Malik Peiris

    (The University of Hong Kong
    Centre for Immunology and Infection (C2I), Hong Kong Science Park)

  • John M. Nicholls

    (The University of Hong Kong)

  • Michael C. W. Chan

    (The University of Hong Kong
    Centre for Immunology and Infection (C2I), Hong Kong Science Park)

Abstract

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern with progressively increased transmissibility between humans is a threat to global public health. The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 also evades immunity from natural infection or vaccines1, but it is unclear whether its exceptional transmissibility is due to immune evasion or intrinsic virological properties. Here we compared the replication competence and cellular tropism of the wild-type virus and the D614G, Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (B.1.1.529) variants in ex vivo explant cultures of human bronchi and lungs. We also evaluated the dependence on TMPRSS2 and cathepsins for infection. We show that Omicron replicates faster than all other SARS-CoV-2 variants studied in the bronchi but less efficiently in the lung parenchyma. All variants of concern have similar cellular tropism compared to the wild type. Omicron is more dependent on cathepsins than the other variants of concern tested, suggesting that the Omicron variant enters cells through a different route compared with the other variants. The lower replication competence of Omicron in the human lungs may explain the reduced severity of Omicron that is now being reported in epidemiological studies, although determinants of severity are multifactorial. These findings provide important biological correlates to previous epidemiological observations.

Suggested Citation

  • Kenrie P. Y. Hui & John C. W. Ho & Man-chun Cheung & Ka-chun Ng & Rachel H. H. Ching & Ka-ling Lai & Tonia Tong Kam & Haogao Gu & Ko-Yung Sit & Michael K. Y. Hsin & Timmy W. K. Au & Leo L. M. Poon & M, 2022. "SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant replication in human bronchus and lung ex vivo," Nature, Nature, vol. 603(7902), pages 715-720, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:603:y:2022:i:7902:d:10.1038_s41586-022-04479-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04479-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04479-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41586-022-04479-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sabrina Semeraro & Anastasia Serena Gaetano & Luisa Zupin & Carlo Poloni & Elvio Merlach & Enrico Greco & Sabina Licen & Francesco Fontana & Silvana Leo & Alessandro Miani & Francesco Broccolo & Pierl, 2022. "Operative Protocol for Testing the Efficacy of Nasal Filters in Preventing Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Feng, Jingxue & Wang, Liangliang, 2024. "A switching state-space transmission model for tracking epidemics and assessing interventions," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    3. Han, Lili & Song, Sha & Pan, Qiuhui & He, Mingfeng, 2023. "The impact of multiple population-wide testing and social distancing on the transmission of an infectious disease," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 630(C).
    4. Catherine Park & Shahriar Tavakoli-Tabasi & Amir Sharafkhaneh & Benjamin J. Seligman & Bret Hicken & Christopher I. Amos & Andrew Chou & Javad Razjouyan, 2023. "Inflammatory Biomarkers Differ among Hospitalized Veterans Infected with Alpha, Delta, and Omicron SARS-CoV-2 Variants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-11, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:603:y:2022:i:7902:d:10.1038_s41586-022-04479-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.