Early studies of human cells in a lab dish suggest that the omicron variant of the coronaviruses is less efficient at spreading from cell to cell.
Some data from countries such as South Africa and England suggest the strain causes less severe disease. A new study shows that the variant dodges most of the antibodies made by fully-vaccinated individuals.
The team showed that a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine increased the neutralization power of the vaccine, though we'd still expect a waning in immunity to occur over time.
There are facts about omicron, delta and other COVID-19 Mutants.
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The research has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal, but the findings hint that the virus has a double-edged sword: it's got better at evading the immune system, but it might have lost some of its ability to cause. Scientists still need to confirm that the results from lab dishes match what happens in human patients, and that omicron's genes actually influence the severity of infections.
Data from South Africa, England and other countries suggest that omicron infections might be less severe on average, but background levels of immunity from natural infections and vaccinations make it difficult to interpret.
Live Science reported that Omicron has more than 30 changes in the genes that code for its spike protein. There are 10 codes for parts of the "receptor binding domain" or the specific portion of the spikeProtein that latches onto cells.
The researchers engineered syntheticviruses that carry the omicron spike protein to investigate how these spike mutations might change how the virus interacts with cells. They also created pseudoviruses with the delta spike and the original SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The team wanted to understand how the three omicron-specific mutations affect the ability of the virus to enter cells. The alpha and delta variant of the PBCS carry a certain amount of mutations that help them enter cells more easily, according to a previous study.
The team predicted that Omicron might slip into cells as easily as alpha and delta do. They tested this theory by using their pseudoviruses to get human lung cells in lab dishes, as well as lung organoids, which are 3D clusters of cells made to mimic features of full-size lungs. They found that omicron entered the lung cells and organoids less efficiently than delta, and that it was more similar to Wuhan-1.
In a second experiment, Delta beat omicron. Cell fusion is a phenomenon that sticks neighboring cells together and allows the virus to quickly spread between them. The researchers noted in their report that widespread cell-cell fusion in the lungs can be seen in the context of severe COVID-19. In their experiments, omicron initiated cell fusion less efficiently than delta, and this seemed to hinder the virus's ability to replicate in lung cells.
A separate study found that omicron replicated more efficiently than the original strain of the disease in upper airway cells, but less efficiently than the original strain in lung cells.
There have been 20 of the worst epidemics in history.
The more efficient the virus is at infecting our cells, the more severe the disease might be. This new variant may cause less severe lung-associated disease because omicron is not so good at entering lung cells and causes fewer fused cells in the lab.
Future studies will need to confirm that the experiments in lab dishes translate to the human body. The team's experiments show that people should get booster shots as soon as possible, Gupta said in the statement.
He said that people who have only received two doses of the vaccine are still at significant risk of developing severe disease. The need for everyone to get their boosters as quickly as possible is reinforced by the sheer number of new cases we are seeing.
Live Science published the original article.
