Reduced interferon antagonism but similar drug sensitivity in Omicron variant compared to Delta variant SARS-CoV-2 isolates
- The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is currently causing a large number of infections in many countries. A number of antiviral agents are approved or in clinical testing for the treatment of COVID-19. Despite the high number of mutations in the Omicron variant, we here show that Omicron isolates display similar sensitivity to eight of the most important anti-SARS-CoV-2 drugs and drug candidates (including remdesivir, molnupiravir, and PF-07321332, the active compound in paxlovid), which is of timely relevance for the treatment of the increasing number of Omicron patients. Most importantly, we also found that the Omicron variant displays a reduced capability of antagonising the host cell interferon response. This provides a potential mechanistic explanation for the clinically observed reduced pathogenicity of Omicron variant viruses compared to Delta variant viruses.
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| Author: | Denisa BojkovaORCiDGND, Marek WideraORCiDGND, Sandra CiesekORCiDGND, Mark N. WassORCiD, Martin MichaelisORCiDGND, Jindrich CinatlORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-729945 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.01.03.474773 |
| Parent Title (English): | bioRxiv |
| Document Type: | Preprint |
| Language: | English |
| Year of Completion: | 2022 |
| Year of first Publication: | 2022 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2023/03/21 |
| Issue: | 2022.01.03.474773 |
| Page Number: | 14 |
| HeBIS-PPN: | 506717178 |
| Institutes: | Medizin / Medizin |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit |
| Sammlungen: | Universitätspublikationen |
| Licence (German): |  Creative Commons - CC BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International |
