A comparative study of spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and its variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) on some immune characteristics

The emergence of Omicron variant raises great concerns because of its rapid transmissibility and its numerous mutations in spike protein (S-protein). S-protein can act as a pathogen-associated molecular pattern and complement activator as well as antigen. We compared some immune characteristics of trimer S-proteins for wild type (WT-S) and B.1.1.529 Omicron (Omicron-S) to investigate whether the mutations have affected its pathogenicity and antigenic shift. The results indicated that WT-S and Omicron-S directly activated nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and induced the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines in macrophages, but the actions of Omicron-S were weaker. These inflammatory reactions could be abrogated by a Toll-like receptor 4 antagonist TAK-242. Two S-proteins failed to induce the production of antiviral molecular interferon-β. In contrast to pro-inflammatory effects, the ability of two S-proteins to activate complement was comparable. We also compared the binding ability of two S-proteins to a high-titer anti-WT-receptor-binding domain antibody. The data showed that WT-S strongly bound to this antibody, while Omicron-S was completely off-target. Collectively, the mutations of Omicron have a great impact on the pro-inflammatory ability and epitopes of S-protein, but little effect on its ability to activate complement. Addressing these issues can be helpful for more adequate understanding of the pathogenicity of Omicron and the vaccine breakthrough infection.