AUTHOR=Liu Qianyun , Jin Meihua , Mei Fanghua , Fan Hui , Gu Mengxue , Zhang Yuzhen , Qian Shengnan , Tan Xue , Ji Lei , Zhang Zhen , Chen Guozhong , Yan Huan , Chen Yu , Lan Ke , Geng Qing , Cai Kun , Zhou Li TITLE=A long-term cohort study: the immune evasion and decreasing neutralization dominated the SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infection JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology VOLUME=14 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2024.1381877 DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2024.1381877 ISSN=2235-2988 ABSTRACT=

Most of vaccinees and COVID-19 convalescents can build effective anti-SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity, which helps preventing infection and alleviating symptoms. However, breakthrough viral infections caused by emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, especially Omicron subvariants, still pose a serious threat to global health. By monitoring the viral infections and the sera neutralization ability of a long-tracked cohort, we found out that the immune evasion of emerging Omicron subvariants and the decreasing neutralization led to the mini-wave of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections. Meanwhile, no significant difference had been found in the infectivity of tested SARS-CoV-2 variants, even though the affinity between human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) and receptor-binding domain (RBDs) of tested variants showed an increasing trend. Notably, the immune imprinting of inactivated COVID-19 vaccine can be relieved by infections of BA.5.2 and XBB.1.5 variants sequentially. Our data reveal the rising reinfection risk of immune evasion variants like Omicron JN.1 in China, suggesting the importance of booster with updated vaccines.