Novavax NVX-COV2373 triggers neutralization of Omicron sub-lineages

Jinal N Bhiman; Simone I Richardson; Bronwen E Lambson; Prudence Kgagudi; Nonkululeko Mzindle; Haajira Kaldine; Carol Crowther; Glenda Gray; Linda-Gail Bekker; Novavax trial clinical lead author group; Vivek Shinde; Chijioke Bennett; Gregory M Glenn; Shabir A Madhi; Penny L Moore

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-27698-x

Novavax NVX-COV2373 triggers neutralization of Omicron sub-lineages

Sci Rep. 2023 Jan 21;13(1):1222. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-27698-x.

Authors

Jinal N Bhiman^{1

2}, Simone I Richardson^{1

2}, Bronwen E Lambson^{1

2}, Prudence Kgagudi^{1

2}, Nonkululeko Mzindle^{1

2}, Haajira Kaldine^{1

2}, Carol Crowther^{1

2}, Glenda Gray³, Linda-Gail Bekker^{4

5}; Novavax trial clinical lead author group; Vivek Shinde⁶, Chijioke Bennett⁶, Gregory M Glenn⁶, Shabir A Madhi⁷, Penny L Moore^{8

9

10

11}

Collaborators

Novavax trial clinical lead author group:
Anthonet Koen, Lee Fairlie, Leon Fouche, Qasim Bhorat, Keertan Dheda, Michele Tameris, Mduduzi Masilela, Zaheer Hoosain, Nishanta Singh, Sherika Hanley, Moherndran Archary, Cheryl Louw, Coert Grobbelaar, Umesh Lalloo, Natasha Joseph, Gertruida Kruger

Affiliations

¹ National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa.
² MRC Antibody Immunity Research Unit, School of Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
³ The South African Medical Research Council, Tygerberg, South Africa.
⁴ Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁵ The Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
⁶ Novavax, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
⁷ South Africa Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, Faculty of Health Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Shabir.Madhi@wits.ac.za.
⁸ National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Services, Johannesburg, South Africa. pennym@nicd.ac.za.
⁹ MRC Antibody Immunity Research Unit, School of Pathology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. pennym@nicd.ac.za.
¹⁰ Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa. pennym@nicd.ac.za.
¹¹ Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. pennym@nicd.ac.za.

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) Variant of Concern (VOC) and its sub-lineages (including BA.2, BA.4, BA.5, BA.2.12.1) contain spike mutations that confer high level resistance to neutralizing antibodies induced by vaccination with ancestral spike or infection with previously circulating variants. The NVX-CoV2373 vaccine, a protein nanoparticle vaccine containing the ancestral spike sequence, has value in countries with constrained cold-chain requirements. Here we report neutralizing titers following two or three doses of NVX-CoV2373. We show that after two doses, Omicron sub-lineages BA.1 and BA.4/BA.5 were resistant to neutralization by 72% (21/29) and 59% (17/29) of samples respectively. However, after a third dose of NVX-CoV2373, we observed high titers against Omicron BA.1 (GMT: 1,197) and BA.4/BA.5 (GMT: 582), with responses similar in magnitude to those triggered by three doses of an mRNA vaccine. These data are of particular relevance as BA.4/BA.5 is dominating in multiple locations, and highlight the potential utility of the NVX-CoV2373 vaccine as a booster in resource-limited environments.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral
COVID-19* / prevention & control
Humans
Mutation
SARS-CoV-2 / genetics

Substances

Antibodies, Neutralizing
Antibodies, Viral