By Caitlin Tilley, Dailymail.Com Health Reporter
16:00 08 January 2024, 17:06 08 January 2024 updated
- The Ohio State University found that BA.2.86 can infect lung cells more efficiently
- JN.1, a descendant of BA.2.86, is responsible for more than three out of five cases of coronavirus infection.
- Read more: Has the coronavirus become a stomach bug? Scientists say it’s possible
The new coronavirus variant behind a surge in hospitalizations may be more deadly than previously thought, research suggests.
BA.2.86 — or “Pirola” — is a mutation of the Omicron BA.2 subvariant, an ancestor of the currently predominant JN.1, and is responsible for more than three out of five Covid cases as of January 6. This is the cause.
Both strains have about 60 more mutations in the spike protein than the original coronavirus and more than 30 more than other Omicron variants such as BA.2 and XBB.1.5.
A new study from Ohio State University found that BA.2.86 can infect cells in the lower lungs and penetrate cell membranes more efficiently than other versions of Omicron.
The study’s senior author, Dr. Xiang-Lu Liu, a professor of virology at The Ohio State University, called the findings “alarming.”
“The concern is whether this variant and its descendants, including JN.1, will have an increased propensity to infect human lung epithelial cells, similar to the parent virus that caused the pandemic in 2020,” he said. Ta.
Researchers found in laboratory tests that BA.2.86 was more efficient at infecting the lower lungs of humans.
Upper respiratory infections affect the throat and sinuses, such as colds and sore throats.
However, lower respiratory tract infections usually last longer and are more severe because they affect the airways and lungs.
These include bronchitis and pneumonia, with symptoms such as chronic cough and difficulty breathing.
“BA.2.86 may be increasingly inclined to use the cell membrane entry route rather than the endosomal entry route,” the researchers wrote.
This means that BA.2.86 enters cells in a more efficient manner by directly penetrating the cell membrane, rather than attaching to the cell surface and collecting receptors.
The experiments were carried out using a pseudovirus – a non-infectious part of the virus surrounded by various Covid spike proteins on its surface structured to match known variants.
“We need to confirm these findings using real viruses,” Dr. Liu said.
“But we know from our past experience that the infectivity of human epithelial cell lines provides very important information.”
He added: “This raises potential concerns about whether this virus is more pathogenic compared to recent Omicron variants.”
Laboratory tests have shown BA.2.86 to be more severe, but this is not reflected in official data.
BA.2.86 began distribution in the United States in August 2023.
Since then, the number of deaths from the coronavirus has remained at very low levels. In the final week of 2023, the CDC estimated that 839 people would have died from the virus.
For comparison, in the last week of 2022, there were 3,658 deaths from coronavirus.
Since BA.2.86 was introduced in August 2023, the number of hospitalizations has been increasing. Through the first week of September, there were 20,699 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the United States, up from 6,487 in the first week of July.
However, hospitalizations are still significantly lower than last year.
In the week ending December 30, there were 34,798 people hospitalized with coronavirus in the United States, compared to 44,542 in December 2022.
At the peak of the pandemic in January 2022, 150,650 people died in one week.
The Ohio State University researchers also found that the bivalent booster vaccine was effective at neutralizing BA.2.86, which may explain why this variant is as much of a concern as previously. This will explain why it did not cause large waves.
In a separate experiment, researchers tested health care workers who received three monovalent coronavirus vaccines, two monovalent vaccines and one bivalent booster, and Antibodies were analyzed in blood samples of infected first responders.
They compared the antibodies’ ability to block infection by the original Covid virus, BA.2.86, an XBB-derived variant known as FLip, and several Omicron variants.
Researchers at Ohio State University found that antibodies from health care workers who received booster shots were more effective at neutralizing the virus. BA.2.86 is better at neutralizing other Micron variants, including XBB.1.5.
In contrast, three monovalent vaccines and previous XBB.1.5 infection were largely ineffective in blocking infection with BA.2.86.
The study was published in the journal cell.