Retention of Neutralizing Response against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant in Sputnik V-Vaccinated Individuals

  1. Daniele Lapa
  2. Daria M. Grousova
  3. Giulia Matusali
  4. Silvia Meschi
  5. Francesca Colavita
  6. Aurora Bettini
  7. Giulia Gramigna
  8. Massimo Francalancia
  9. Anna Rosa Garbuglia
  10. Enrico Girardi
  11. Vincenzo Puro
  12. Andrea Antinori
  13. Anna V. Kovyrshina
  14. Inna V. Dolzhikova
  15. Dmitry V. Shcheblyakov
  16. Amir I. Tukhvatulin
  17. Olga V. Zubkova
  18. Vladimir A. Gushchin
  19. Denis Y. Logunov
  20. Boris S. Naroditsky
  21. Francesco Vaia
  22. Alexander L. Gintsburg

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Abstract

The new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, first identified in November 2021, is rapidly spreading all around the world. Omicron has become the dominant variant of SARS-CoV-2. There are many ongoing studies evaluating the effectiveness of existing vaccines. Studies on the neutralizing activity of vaccinated sera against the Omicron variant are currently being carried out in many laboratories. In this study, we have shown the neutralizing activity of sera against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant compared to the reference Wuhan D614G variant in individuals vaccinated with two doses of Sputnik V up to 6 months after vaccination and in individuals who experienced SARS-CoV-2 infection either before or after vaccination. As a control to our study we also measured neutralizing antibody titers in individuals vaccinated with two doses of BNT162b2. The decrease in NtAb titers to the Omicron variant was 8.1-fold for the group of Sputnik V-vaccinated individuals. When the samples were stratified for the time period after vaccination, a 7.6-fold or 8.8-fold decrease in NtAb titers was noticed after up to 3 and 3-to-6 months after vaccination. We observed a 6.7- and 5-fold decrease in Sputnik V-vaccinated individuals experiencing asymptomatic or symptomatic infection, respectively. These results highlight the observation that the decrease in NtAb to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant compared to the Wuhan variant occurs for different COVID-19 vaccines in use, with some showing no neutralization at all, confirming the necessity of a third booster vaccination.

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  1. Version published to 10.3390/vaccines10050817
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2022.01.15.22269335: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    EthicsIRB: Ethics statement: The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the INMI Ethical Committee (issue n. 297/2021) and Gamaleya NRCEM Local Ethics Committee (Protocol No. 17 of December 03, 2021).
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    RBD- and N-specific IgG Evaluation: Two commercial chemiluminescence microparticle antibody assays (ARCHITECT, Abbott Laboratories, Wiesbaden, Germany) were used, according to manufacturer’s protocols: the anti-nucleoprotein IgG and the SARS-CoV-2 IgG II kit, which detected antibodies against the RBD of SARS-CoV-2.
    RBD-
    suggested: None
    anti-nucleoprotein IgG
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Cell culture, virus isolation and propagation: Viral isolation was performed on Vero E6/TMPRSS2 (kindly provided by Dr. Oeda S., National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan)
    Vero E6/TMPRSS2
    suggested: None
    Initial passage, propagation and titration were performed on Vero E6 cells (ATCC CRL-1586).
    Vero E6
    suggested: None
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    RBD- and N-specific IgG Evaluation: Two commercial chemiluminescence microparticle antibody assays (ARCHITECT, Abbott Laboratories, Wiesbaden, Germany) were used, according to manufacturer’s protocols: the anti-nucleoprotein IgG and the SARS-CoV-2 IgG II kit, which detected antibodies against the RBD of SARS-CoV-2.
    Abbott Laboratories
    suggested: None
    Statistical analysis: Statistical analysis was performed in GraphPad Prism version 9.2.0 (
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)
    GraphPad Software Inc.
    GraphPad
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    This study has several limitations: 1) the relatively small number of tested samples in time groups, which may not reflect the dynamics of neutralizing antibodies; 2) absence of data about age-dependent and comorbidity-dependent NtAb response; 3) some samples with moderate virus-neutralizing antibody titers on Wuhan D614G variant are followed by a number of results on Omicron variant being under the limit of detection and hence limited accuracy of evaluation of virus-neutralizing antibody titers decrease; 4) heterogeneity of vaccinated convalescents group. The results have shown that two-dose vaccination regimen allows the formation of neutralizing antibodies that can neutralize the Omicron variant, and we suppose that it may be sufficient in protection against COVID-19-associated hospitalizations and deaths. However, it is unclear whether this level of antibodies will be enough to effectively neutralize the Omicron variant to protect against infection. This study together with previous studies gives additional evidence for the need of booster immunization [9-13]: Sputnik Light booster after Sputnik V vaccination induces robust neutralizing antibody response to Omicron variant [9]. Immune response to SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant after booster immunization is currently being actively investigated [9-13]. Vaccine research shows that vaccinated individuals have a significantly milder course of Omicron variant infection. And the strategy of using booster doses allows to reduce not ...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2022.01.15.22269335v1 on medRxiv