SARS-CoV-2 Omicron Variant is Attenuated for Replication in a Polarized Human Lung Epithelial Cell Model

Overview

Journal Commun Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2022 Oct 27

PMID 36302956

Authors

Christin Mache

Jessica Schulze

Gudrun Holland

Daniel Bourquain

Jean-Marc Gensch

Djin-Ye Oh

Andreas Nitsche

Ralf Durrwald

Michael Laue

Thorsten Wolff

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 and its emerging variants of concern remain a major threat for global health. Here we introduce an infection model based upon polarized human Alveolar Epithelial Lentivirus immortalized (hAELVi) cells grown at the air-liquid interface to estimate replication and epidemic potential of respiratory viruses in the human lower respiratory tract. hAELVI cultures are highly permissive for different human coronaviruses and seasonal influenza A virus and upregulate various mediators following virus infection. Our analysis revealed a significantly reduced capacity of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 variants to propagate in this human model compared to earlier D614G and Delta variants, which extends early risk assessments from epidemiological and animal studies suggesting a reduced pathogenicity of Omicron.

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