I wanted to share one more figure from the #Omicron pre-print that I think offers some additional support for the idea that mRNA boosting doesn't just increase the total neutralizing response but instead "broadens" it to enable Omicron neuralization:
What these graphs show is a comparison of neutralization activity against the original strain (wild type) on the X axis and either Delta or Omicron on the Y axis. White dots represent samples from recently vaccinated, black squares from recently boosted individuals.
If you look at the slope of the dashed line through the white dots, you'll see that it's quite flat (especially for Omicron). This means that after getting the primary series of shots, neutralizing activity against wild type doesn't really predict the activity against variants.
If you instead look at the slope of the solid line through the black dots, you'll see that it's much steeper. This means that after getting boosted, the neutralizing activity against wild type predicts the activity against variants, including Omicron!
The take-home message in these patterns is that the antibody response after boosting is fundamentally different than it was before. It's not just raising the level of the existing antibodies, it's doing a lot more than that. Calling the third shot a booster is oversimplifying!
Again, many thanks to @wilfredo_nk for generating all of the figures for the study and co-authors @kstdenis29 @EvanCLam @vivek_naranbhai and @MGHPathology for all of their efforts. Given the spread of Omicron we are seeing in genomic surveillance data, please #GetBoostedNow !

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More from @BalazsLab

14 Dec
Until the pre-print posts, I figured I would put together a thread for those who want to see the data. Many thanks to @wilfredo_nk, @kstdenis29, @EvanCLam, @adamnitido, @NaranbhaiVivek who have been up at all hours of the night both at the bench and writing the paper!

1/16
We generated harmless pseudoviruses decorated with spikes that represent circulating Delta and Omicron spike proteins. Compared to the Wuhan isolate, Delta has 9 mutations in spike, but Omicron has 34!

2/16
When we map these mutations onto the structure of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein it's clear that many of these cluster together near the "top" of the spike, in regions exposed to neutralizing antibodies.

3/16
Read 16 tweets
12 Mar
Our paper describing the potential for mRNA vaccines to induce antibodies capable of neutralizing many of the circulating variants is now available online at Cell!
cell.com/cell/fulltext/…
We created pseudoviruses representing many of the globally circulating variants, many containing numerous mutations in and around the receptor binding domain (RBD)
Using our previously described pseudovirus neutralization assay, we determined the potential for sera obtained from patients receiving one or two doses of the Pfizer (BNT162b2) or Moderna (mRNA-1273) vaccines.
Read 8 tweets
17 Feb
As we wait for medRxiv, I wanted to share our complete results in a new thread. I want to stress that this is still a pre-print that has not yet undergone peer review. Many thanks again to @wilfredo_nk @EvanCLam @kstdenis29 and @NaranbhaiVivek for all of their hard work!
To test the potential for both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to produce serum responses capable of neutralizing circulating #SARSCoV2 variants, we built a series of spike-expression plasmids:
The details of the mutations we made and a comparison between the strains can be seen in this figure:
Read 13 tweets
14 Feb
We have just uploaded a pre-print to MedRxiv sharing our data on the potential for sera from recipients of currently administered mRNA vaccines to neutralize 10 different circulating strains of #SARSCoV2. Before it posts online, I'd like to put them into context. A thread:
1/12
Here's a key graph from our pre-print showing the results of our neutralization assay on sera taken from vaccinees receiving two or one dose of BNT162b2.
2/12 Titers that achieve 50% neutralization (NT50) are plotted fo
First off, we find (as other have reported) that several strains are neutralized as well as the D614G variant. These include strains such as B.1.1.7 (first described in the UK) and B.1.429 (first described in California, USA).
3/12
Read 12 tweets

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