BREAKING🔔 The 50th🎉 paper from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 is out at Lancet Infectious Diseases
@TheLancetInfDis. We elucidated the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 LP.8.1. Please repost🔥 1/ thelancet.com/journals/lanin…
In spike, LP.8.1 has 9 mutations (S31del, F186L, R190S, R346T, V445R, F456L, Q493E, K1086R, and V1104L) compared with JN.1; and 8 amino acid residues (T22N, S31del, F59S, F186L, R190S, R346T, H445R, and K1086R) differ between the spike proteins of LP.8.1 and XEC. 2/
Transmissibility/fitness (Re):
Epidemic dynamics modeling led by Jumpei @jampei2 and Kaho showed that the Re of LP.8.1 is ~1.1-fold higher than that of XEC in 🇺🇸. However, the Re of LP.8.1 and XEC were almost comparable in 🇯🇵. Difference between countries🤔?? 3/
Pseudovirus infectivity:
LP.8.1 < XEC = JN.1. Difference between our data (figure) and that from Yunlong @yunlong_cao (url link below) might be due to difference in experimental setup (pseudovirus vs RBD)🤔?? 4/ biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
Immune resistance:
In all cases tested, the 50% neutralization titers (NT50s) of XEC and LP.8.1 were comparable. So... why is the Re of LP.8.1 higher than that of XEC...🤔? 5/
The advantage of LP.8.1 over XEC may depend on the immune background and/or the history of SARS-CoV-2 infection/vaccination of the population in each country? Anyways both live-virus and real-world data from more countries would be needed to better understand of LP.8.1... 6/
Over the next few months, pharmaceutical companies will be considering the vaccine variant for fall/winter 2025. It would be particularly important to take into account our data suggesting that LP.8.1 may NOT be dominant globally when considering the vaccine candidate. 7/7
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BREAKING🔔 A new study from G2P-Japan🇯🇵, led by Keiya @Keiya717, is out at @biorxivpreprint. We assessed the humoral immunity induced by JN.1 mRNA vaccines against a broad range of SARS-CoV-2 variants including JN.1, KP.3.1.1 & XEC. Please repost🔥 1/ biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
In this study, we used 2 mRNA vaccines, one is from Pfizer/BioNTech🇺🇸🇩🇪, while another is from Daiichi-Sankyo🇯🇵. The good news is that there are no significant differences between them and both broadly neutralized a variety of SARS-CoV-2 including JN.1, KP.3.1.1 and XEC. 2/
But there are two scientific interests.
First, compared to our recent study using JN.1 and KP.3.3 breakthrough (i.e. natural) infection sera, antiviral humoral immunity against KP.3 and XEC was weakly induced. However, JN.1 mNRA vaccine can. Why🤔?? 3/
BREAKING🔔 A new study from G2P-Japan🇯🇵, led by Yu in my lab, is out at bioRxiv @biorxivpreprint. We elucidated the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 #XEC. Please repost🔥 1/ biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
Compared with KP.3, #XEC harbors two spike substitutions, S:T22N and S:F59S. Recombination analysis by Shusuke @KawakuboShusuke showed that XEC is a recombinant lineage of KS.1.1 (JN.13.1.1.1) and KP.3.3 (JN.1.11.1.3.3) with a breakpoint at genomic position 21,738–22,599. 2/
Transmissibility/fitness (Re):
Molecular phylogenetic-epidemic dynamics modeling led by Jumpei @jampei2 and Kaho showed that the Re of #XEC is greater than that of KP.3.1.1, the most predominant variant in the world. 3/
BREAKING🔔 Here I want to quickly report our new results from G2P-Japan🇯🇵 before the preprint publication. We have elucidated the virological characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 KP.3.1.1 - a progeny of JN.1. Please RT🔥 1/
Cf.1 A new one, KP.2 (JN.1.11.1.2), has been already elucidated. 2/