Biology subjects

Zhao, C.

Publications and source records attributed to Zhao, C..

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Functional Connectivity Development along the Sensorimotor-Association Axis Enhances the Cortical Hierarchy

Human cortical maturation has been posited to be organized along the sensorimotor-association (S-A) axis, a hierarchical axis of brain organization that spans from unimodal sensorimotor cortices to transmodal association cortices. Here, we investigate the hypothesis that the development of functional connectivity during childhood through adolescence conforms to the cortical hierarchy defined by the S-A axis. We tested this pre-registered hypothesis in four large-scale, independent datasets (total n = 3,355; ages 5-23 years): the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (n = 1,207), Nathan Kline Institute-Rockland Sample (n = 397), Human Connectome Project: Development (n = 625), and Healthy Brain Network (n = 1,126). In each dataset, the development of functional connectivity systematically varied along the S-A axis. Connectivity in sensorimotor regions increased, whereas connectivity in association cortices declined, refining and reinforcing the cortical hierarchy. These robust and generalizable results establish that the sensorimotor-association axis of cortical organization encodes the dominant pattern of functional connectivity development.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Highly accurate estimation of cell type abundance in bulk tissues based on single-cell reference and domain adaptive matching

Accurately identifying the cellular composition of complex tissues is critical for understanding disease pathogenesis, early diagnosis, and prevention. However, current methods for deconvoluting bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) typically rely on matched single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) as a reference, which can be limiting due to differences in sequencing distribution and the potential for invalid information from single-cell references. To overcome these limitations, we introduced SCROAM, a novel computational method that overcomes these challenges. SCROAM transforms scRNA-seq and bulk RNA-seq into a shared feature space, effectively eliminating distributional differences in the latent space. We then generate cell-type-specific expression matrices from scRNA-seq, enabling accurate identification of cell types in bulk tissues. We evaluated the performance of SCROAM by benchmarking it against simulated datasets and human breast cancer and peripheral blood datasets, demonstrating its accuracy and robustness. To further validate SCROAMs performance, we conducted single-cell and bulk RNA-seq experiments on mouse spinal cord tissue and applied SCROAM to identify bulk tissue cell types. Our results indicate that SCROAM is a highly effective tool for identifying similar cell types, surpassing the performance of existing methods. We then performed an integrated analysis of liver cancer and primary glioblastoma to investigate the relationship between cell type composition and clinical outcomes in various tumor types, highlighting the significance of SCROAM for understanding cellular heterogeneity in complex diseases. Overall, our work presents a novel perspective to accurately infer cellular composition and expression in bulk RNA-seq, offering valuable insights into disease pathogenesis and potential therapeutic strategies.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2023

Transcriptome brings variations of gene expression, alternative splicing, and structural variations into gene-scale trait dissection in soybean

Genome-wide association study (GWAS) identifies trait-associated loci, but due in part to slow decay of linkage disequilibrium (LD), identifying the causal genes can be a bottleneck. Transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) addresses this by identifying gene expression-phenotype associations or integrating gene expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) with GWAS results. Here, we used self-pollinated soybean as a model to evaluate the application of TWAS in the genetic dissection of traits in plant species that exhibit slow LD decay. The first RNA-Seq analysis of a soybean diversity panel was conducted, which identified the genetic regulation of 29,286 genes. Different TWAS solutions were less affected by LD and robust with source of expression that identified known genes related to traits from different development stages and tissues. A novel gene named pod color L2 was identified via TWAS and functionally validated by genome editing. Our introduction of the new exon proportion feature significantly improves the capture of expression variations resulting from structural variations and alternative splicing. As a result, the genes identified by our TWAS approach exhibited a diverse range of causal variations, including SNP, insertion/deletion, gene fusion, copy number variation, and alternative splicing. Using our TWAS approach, we identified genes associated with flowering time, including both previously known candidates and novel genes that had not been linked to this trait before, providing complementary insights with GWAS. In summary, this study supports the application of TWAS for candidate gene identification in species with low rates of LD decay.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2023

Natural Circulation of Tick-borne Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus in the City Ecosystem, China

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is rapidly expanding its range in China, because of the accelerated spread of the parthenogenetic Haemaphysalis longicornis, Asian long-horned tick (ALT). In this letter, we report the urban circulation of SFTSV between ALTs and hedgehogs in Beijing, China. HighlightsHedgehogs and ALTs can maintain the natural circulation of SFTSV in the city ecosystem. Hedgehogs and ALTs are becoming common in Beijing. Parthenogenetic ALTs are discovered in Beijing.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2023

Pan-cancer characterization of ncRNA synergistic competition uncovers potential carcinogenic biomarkers

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) act as important modulators of gene expression and they have been confirmed to play critical roles in the physiology and development of malignant tumors. Understanding the synergism of multiple ncRNAs in competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulation can provide important insights into the mechanisms of malignant tumors caused by ncRNA regulation. In this work, we present a framework, SCOM, for identifying ncRNA synergistic competition. We systematically construct the landscape of ncRNA synergistic competition across 31 malignant tumors, and reveal that malignant tumors tend to share hub ncRNAs rather than the ncRNA interactions involved in the synergistic competition. In addition, the synergistic competition ncRNAs (i.e. ncRNAs involved in the synergistic competition) are likely to be involved in drug resistance, contribute to distinguishing molecular subtypes of malignant tumors, and participate in immune regulation. Furthermore, SCOM can help to infer ncRNA synergistic competition across malignant tumors and uncover potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of malignant tumors. Altogether, the SCOM framework and the resulting web-based database SCOMdb (www.comblab.cn/SCOMdb/) serve as a useful resource for exploring ncRNA regulation and to accelerate the identification of carcinogenic biomarkers. Author summaryAbundant evidence reveals that ncRNAs are important modulators of gene expression, and it is important for us to understand the regulation of ncRNAs in malignant tumors. In this work, we hypothesize that ncRNAs acting as ceRNAs can crosstalk with each other in the form of synergistic competition. We name the hypothesis as the ncRNA synergistic competition hypothesis. To uncover potential carcinogenic biomarkers, we present a framework, SCOM, for identifying ncRNA synergistic competition in malignant tumors. From the perspective of synergistic competition, we have shown that the synergistic competition ncRNAs are likely to involve in drug resistance, contribute to distinguishing molecular subtypes of malignant tumors, and participate in immune regulation. In addition, the synergistic competition ncRNAs are potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of malignant tumors. We believe that the proposed framework SCOM and the web-based database SCOMdb can contribute to the design of reliable diagnosis and treatment biomarkers for malignant tumors.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2023

Transgene-Free Ex Utero Derivation of A Human Post-Implantation Embryo Model Solely from Genetically Unmodified Naive PSCs

Our ability to study early human post-implantation development remains highly limited due to the ethical and technical challenges associated with intrauterine development of the human embryo after implantation. Despite the great progress made on human gastruloids, axioloids and in vitro cultured blastoids, such elegant models do not constitute an integrated Stem cell-derived Embryo Models (SEMs) that includes all the key extra-embryonic tissues of the early post-implantation human conceptus (e.g., hypoblast, yolk-sac, trophoblasts, amnion, and extraembryonic mesoderm), and thus, do not recapitulate post-implantation epiblast development within the context of these extra-embryonic compartments. Mouse naive pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have recently been shown to give rise to embryonic and extra-embryonic stem cells capable of self-assembling into post-gastrulation mouse SEMs, while bypassing the blastocyst-like stage, and eventually initiating organogenesis ex utero. Here, we implement critical adaptations to extend these finding to humans, while using only genetically unmodified human naive PSCs, thus circumventing the need for ectopic expression of lineage promoting transgenes. Such integrated human SEMs recapitulate the organization of all known compartments of early post-implantation stage human embryos, including epiblast, hypoblast, extra-embryonic mesoderm, and trophoblast surrounding the latter layers. The organized human SEMs recapitulate key hallmarks of post-implantation stage embryogenesis up to 13-14 days post-fertilization (dpf, Carnegie stage 6a), such as bilaminar disk formation, epiblast lumenogenesis, amniogenesis, anterior-posterior symmetry breaking, PGC specification, primary and secondary yolk sac formation, and extra-embryonic mesoderm expansion that defines a chorionic cavity and a connective stalk. This new platform constitutes a tractable stem cell-based model for experimentally interrogating previously inaccessible windows of human peri- and early post-implantation development.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2023

3D spheroid culturing of Astyanax mexicanus liver-derived cell lines recapitulates distinct transcriptomic and metabolic states of in vivo tissue environment.

In vitro assays are crucial tools for gaining detailed insights into various biological processes, including metabolism. Cave morphs of the river-dwelling fish species, Astyanax mexicanus, have adapted their metabolism allowing them to thrive in the biodiversity-deprived and nutrient-limited environment of caves. Liver-derived cells from the cave and river morphs of Astyanax mexicanus have proven to be excellent in vitro resources to better understand the unique metabolism of these fish. However, the current 2D cultures have not fully captured the complex metabolic profile of the Astyanax liver. It is known that 3D culturing can modulate the transcriptomic state of cells when compared to its 2D monolayer culture. Therefore, in order to broaden the possibilities of the in vitro system by modeling a wider gamut of metabolic pathways, we cultured the liver-derived Astyanax cells of both surface and cavefish into 3D spheroids. We successfully established 3D cultures at various cell seeding densities for several weeks and characterized the resultant transcriptomic and metabolic variations. We found that the 3D cultured Astyanax cells represent a wider range of metabolic pathways, including cell cycle changes and antioxidant activities, associated with liver functioning as compared to its monolayer culture. Additionally, the spheroids also exhibited surface and cave-specific metabolic signatures, making it a suitable system for evolutionary studies associated with cave adaptation. Taken together, the liver-derived spheroids prove to be a promising in vitro model for widening our understanding of metabolism in Astyanax mexicanus and of vertebrates in general.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Practice often and always get ready: a spiking mechanistic model for voluntary motor control

In many voluntary movement, neural activities ranging from cortex to spinal cord can be roughly described as the stages of motor intention, preparation, and execution. Recent advances in neuroscience have proposed many theories to understand how motor intention can be transformed into action following these stages, but they still lack a holistic and mechanistic theory to account for the whole process. Here, we try to formulate this question by abstracting two underlying principles: 1) the neural system is specializing the final motor command through a hierarchical network by multitudes of training supervised by the action feedback ("practice often"); 2) prediction is a general mechanism throughout the whole process by providing feedback control for each local layer ("always get ready"). Here we present a theoretical model to regularize voluntary motor control based on these two principles. The model features hierarchical organization and is composed of spiking building blocks based on the previous work in predictive coding and adaptive control theory. By simulating our manual interception paradigm, we show that the network could demonstrate motor preparation and execution, generate desired output trajectory following intention inputs, and exhibit comparable cortical and endpoint dynamics with the empirical data.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Vacuolar H+-ATPase subunit a was identified as the target protein of the oomycete inhibitor fluopicolide

Approximately 240 fungicides are currently in use. However, only a few direct targets have been identified, which limits the development of fungicides and rapid resistance monitoring. Fluopicolide, which is an excellent oomycete inhibitor, is classified as delocalization of spectrin-like proteins inhibitors by FRAC. In the current study, a Pc-actinin knockout had no effect on the sensitivity of Phytophthora capsici to fluopicolide. The vacuolar H+-ATPase subunit a (PcVHA-a) was identified using a BSA-seq and DARTS assay. Four kinds of point mutations in PcVHA-a that cause fluopicolide resistance in P. capsici were confirmed using site-directed mutagenesis. The results of MST, molecular docking, and a DARTS assay indicated that PcVHA-a could bind fluopicolide. Sequence analysis and a molecular docking assay proved the specificity of fluopicolide to oomycetes or fish. Our results suggest that PcVHA-a is the target of fluopicolide, and H+-ATPase could be used as a novel target for the development of new fungicides.

pharmacology and toxicology↗

bioRxiv2023

CHOP drives cells to mutually exclusive cell fates--death and proliferation--during ER stress

Cellular stresses elicit signaling cascades that are capable of either mitigating the inciting dysfunction or initiating cell death. During endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, the transcription factor CHOP is widely recognized to promote cell death. However, it is not clear whether CHOP also has a beneficial role during adaptation. Here, we have combined a new, versatile, genetically modified Chop allele with single cell analysis and with stresses of physiological intensity, to rigorously examine the contribution of CHOP to cell fate. Paradoxically, we found that CHOP promoted death in some cells, but proliferation--and hence recovery--in others. Strikingly, this function of CHOP conferred to cells a stress-specific competitive growth advantage. The dynamics of CHOP expression and UPR activation at the single cell level suggested that CHOP maximizes UPR activation, which in turn favors stress resolution, subsequent UPR deactivation, and proliferation. Taken together, these findings suggest that CHOPs function can be better described as a "stress test" that drives cells into either of two mutually exclusive fates--adaptation or death--during stresses of physiological intensity.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Breaking the C. elegans invasion/proliferation dichotomy

The acquisition of the post-mitotic state is crucial for the execution of many terminally differentiated cell behaviors during organismal development. However, the mechanisms that maintain the post-mitotic state in this context remain poorly understood. To gain insight into these mechanisms, we used the genetically and visually accessible model of C. elegans anchor cell (AC) invasion into the vulval epithelium. The AC is a terminally differentiated uterine cell that normally exits the cell cycle and enters a post-mitotic state, initiating contact between the uterus and vulva through a cell invasion event. Here, we set out to identify the set of negative cell cycle regulators that maintain the AC in this post-mitotic, invasive state. Our findings revealed a critical role for CKI-1 (p21CIP1/p27KIP1) in redundantly maintaining the post-mitotic state of the AC, as loss of CKI-1 in combination with other negative cell cycle regulators--including CKI-2 (p21CIP1/p27KIP1), LIN-35 (pRb/p107/p130), FZR-1 (Cdh1/Hct1), and LIN-23 ({beta}-TrCP)--resulted in proliferating ACs. Remarkably, time-lapse imaging revealed that these ACs retain their ability to invade. Upon examination of a node in the gene regulatory network controlling AC invasion, we determined that proliferating, invasive ACs do so by maintaining aspects of pro-invasive gene expression. We therefore report that the requirement for a post-mitotic state for invasive cell behavior can be bypassed following direct cell cycle perturbation.

developmental biology↗

bioRxiv2023

PD1 is transcriptionally regulated by LEF1 in mature T cells

Programmed cell death 1 (PD1) plays a vital role in cancer immune evasion. So monoclonal antibodies targeting PD-1 to boost the immune system are being developed for the treatment of cancer. But the effect of PD1/PD-L1 blocking antibody only works in a subset of patients or some tumors. It is well established that PD-1 can affect the positive selection of T cells. Mice lacking PD1 or PD-L1 had more DP T cells in the thymus. However, how it affects the T-cell repertoire is not very clear. For T cell development and maturation, TCF1 and its homolog LEF1, act as indispensable factors and TCF1 has been most studied. In our work, we found that LEF1, not TCF1, positively regulated the transcription of PD1 by generating two mice models, including ERT2-CRE-LEF1flox/flox mice and concanavalin A (ConA)-mediated T activation mice model. We investigated LEF1 and PD1 expression in mature T cells, including CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cells, and Treg cells in these two mice models. And we also evaluated the expression of PD1 in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in the tumor-implantation experiments. Furthermore, the regulation of PD1 by LEF1 was verified in LEF1 knockdown cells. Our conclusions provided a novel insight into PD1 regulation in immune responses and explored potential strategies for clinical anti-PD1 treatment.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Predicting developmental relationships of tumor resident and circulating T cells in ovarian cancer

Characterizing T cell populations and understanding their developmental relationships may help design more effective cancer immunotherapies. We coupled single-cell transcriptomics and T cell receptor (TCR) {beta} profiling of intratumoral and peripheral T cells in ovarian cancer patients to identify transcriptional programs and infer their relationship by trajectory and TCR overlap analyses. We proposed a model of differentiation pathway from an intermediate GZMH-expressing CD8 T cell subset found in the blood and tumor that progressively reinforces the exhaustion and tissue residency programs from a CCL4-expressing cluster towards XCL1- and CXCL13-expressing terminally exhausted cells. Inferred cell communication analysis suggests that interaction with CXCL13-expressing CD4 T cells, which we refer to as Tfh-like cells, sustains the effector function of this intermediate GZMH-expressing CD8 T cell subset. Moreover, our results suggest that Tfh-like cells attract cells expressing GPR183 through the production of its ligand 7,25 dihydroxycholesterol (7,25-HC). Finally, we demonstrated that GPR183 is highly expressed in a subset of pre-effector GZMK-expressing CD8 T cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells. Collectively, our results suggest that Tfh-like cells expressing IL-21 help promote antitumor immunity against ovarian tumors by coordinating the action of immune cells responsive to 7,25-HC.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Establishing the Validity of Compressed Sensing Diffusion Spectrum Imaging

Diffusion Spectrum Imaging (DSI) using dense Cartesian sampling of q-space has been shown to provide important advantages for modeling complex white matter architecture. However, its adoption has been limited by the lengthy acquisition time required. Sparser sampling of q-space combined with compressed sensing (CS) reconstruction techniques has been proposed as a way to reduce the scan time of DSI acquisitions. However prior studies have mainly evaluated CS-DSI in post-mortem or non-human data. At present, the capacity for CS-DSI to provide accurate and reliable measures of white matter anatomy and microstructure in the living human brain remains unclear. We evaluated the accuracy and inter-scan reliability of 6 different CS-DSI schemes that provided up to 80% reductions in scan time compared to a full DSI scheme. We capitalized on a dataset of twenty-six participants who were scanned over eight independent sessions using a full DSI scheme. From this full DSI scheme, we subsampled images to create a range of CS-DSI images. This allowed us to compare the accuracy and inter-scan reliability of derived measures of white matter structure (bundle segmentation, voxel-wise scalar maps) produced by the CS-DSI and the full DSI schemes. We found that CS-DSI estimates of both bundle segmentations and voxel-wise scalars were nearly as accurate and reliable as those generated by the full DSI scheme. Moreover, we found that the accuracy and reliability of CS-DSI was higher in white matter bundles that were more reliably segmented by the full DSI scheme. As a final step, we replicated the accuracy of CS-DSI in a prospectively acquired dataset (n=20, scanned once). Together, these results illustrate the utility of CS-DSI for reliably delineating in vivo white matter architecture in a fraction of the scan time, underscoring its promise for both clinical and research applications.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Host and transmission route of Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) from dragonfly to shrimp

Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei (EHP) is a shrimp pathogen that causes huge economic losses. In the present study, the hosts of EHP were investigated using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in an aquaculture farm located in Maoming, China. EHP was detected in Litopenaeus vannamei, Penaeus monodon, crab, false mussel, and three dragonfly species (Anax parthenope, Pantala flavescens, and Ischnura senegalensis). In the histopathological examination using hematoxylin-eosin staining, EHP spores were found in nymphs and adult dragonflies naturally infected with EHP that were collected from the shrimp farm. Fluorescence in situ hybridization results showed a positive signal for EHP infection in the fat body of dragonfly nymphs. Immature and mature microsporidian spores and late sporogonial plasmodium were observed in the cytoplasm of dragonfly nymphs using transmission electron microscopy. The transmission of EHP from shrimp to dragonfly nymphs was confirmed via cohabitation challenge experiments in which EHP-free dragonfly nymphs were cohabited with EHP-infected shrimp, and the transmission of EHP from dragonfly nymphs to shrimp was demonstrated via the cohabitation of EHP-infected dragonfly nymphs with EHP-free shrimp and oral administration challenge experiments. This study confirms that dragonflies can act as natural EHP hosts, and a novel EHP horizontal transmission route exists between dragonflies and shrimp. Author summaryTo the authors knowledge, this study presents the first report of microsporidia (EHP) infecting both crustaceans and insects (A. parthenope, P. flavescens, and I. senegalensis). The horizontal transmission of EHP between dragonfly nymphs and shrimp was confirmed through cohabitation and oral administration challenge experiments. EHP has become a globally significant threat to shrimp aquaculture. The findings of the present study will help to design prevention strategies, such as the use of nets to prevent dragonflies from entering shrimp ponds.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2023

Development of White Matter Fiber Covariance Networks Supports Executive Function in Youth

The white matter architecture of the human brain undergoes substantial development throughout childhood and adolescence, allowing for more efficient signaling between brain regions that support executive function. Increasingly, the field understands grey matter development as a spatially and temporally coordinated mechanism that follows hierarchically organized gradients of change. While white matter development also appears asynchronous, previous studies have largely relied on anatomical atlases to characterize white matter tracts, precluding a direct assessment of how white matter structure is spatially and temporally coordinated. Here, we leveraged advances in diffusion modeling and unsupervised machine learning to delineate white matter fiber covariance networks comprised of structurally similar areas of white matter in a cross-sectional sample of 939 youth aged 8-22 years. We then evaluated associations between fiber covariance network structural properties with both age and executive function using generalized additive models. The identified fiber covariance networks aligned with the known architecture of white matter while simultaneously capturing novel spatial patterns of coordinated maturation. Fiber covariance networks showed heterochronous increases in fiber density and cross section that generally followed hierarchically organized temporal patterns of cortical development, with the greatest increases in unimodal sensorimotor networks and the most prolonged increases in superior and anterior transmodal networks. Notably, we found that executive function was associated with structural features of limbic and association networks. Taken together, this study delineates data-driven patterns of white matter network development that support cognition and align with major axes of brain maturation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids and sEH inhibition prevent cardiac dysfunction in CVB3-induced myocarditis by positively regulating type I interferon signaling

Myocarditis is a challenging inflammatory disease of the heart and better understanding of its etiology is needed to develop specific drug therapies. Epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs), active molecules synthesized by cytochrome P450 enzymes from arachidonic acids and hydrolyzed to less active dihydroxyeicosatrienoic acids by soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), have been attributed anti-inflammatory activity. Here, we investigated whether EETs have immunomodulatory activity and exert protective effects on coxsackie B3 virus (CVB3)-induced myocarditis. Viral infection altered eicosanoid epoxide and diol levels in both patients with myocarditis and, in the murine heart, and correlated with the increased expression and activity of the sEH after CVB3 infection. Administration of a sEH inhibitor prevented CVB3-induced cardiac dysfunction and inflammatory infiltration. Importantly, EET/sEH inhibitor treatment attenuated vial infection/ improved viral resistance by activating type I interferon (IFN) signaling. At the molecular level, EETs enhanced the interaction between glycogen synthase kinase 3{beta} (GSK3{beta}) and TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) to promote IFN-{beta} production. Our findings revealed that EETs and sEH inhibitors prevent the progress of CVB3-induced myocarditis, particularly by promoting viral resistance by increasing IFN production.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 BQ.1.1 and XBB.1.5 by Breakthrough Infection Sera from Previous and Current Waves in China

SARS-CoV-2 is continuing to evolve and diversify, with an array of various Omicron sub-lineages, including BA.5, BA.2.75, BN.1, BF.7, BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB and XBB.1.5, now circulating globally at recent time. In this study, we evaluated the neutralization sensitivity of a comprehensive panel of Omicron subvariants to sera from different clinical cohorts, including individuals who received homologous or heterologous booster vaccinations, vaccinated people who had Delta or BA.2 breakthrough infection in previous waves, and patients who had BA.5 or BF.7 breakthrough infection in the current wave in China. All the Omicron subvariants exhibited substantial neutralization evasion, with BQ.1, BQ.1.1, XBB.1, and XBB.1.5 being the strongest escaped subvariants. Sera from Omicron breakthrough infection, especially the recent BA.5 or BF.7 breakthrough infection, exhibited higher neutralizing activity against all Omicron sub-lineages, indicating the chance of BA.5 and BF.7 being entirely replaced by BQ or XBB subvariants in China in a short-term might be low. We also demonstrated that the BQ and XBB subvariants were the most resistant viruses to monoclonal antibodies. Continuing to monitor the immune escape of SARS-CoV-2 emerging variants and developing novel broad-spectrum vaccines and antibodies are still crucial.

immunology↗