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Pavia G, Quirino A, Marascio N, Veneziano C, Longhini F, Bruni A, Garofalo E, Pantanella M, Manno M, Gigliotti S, Giancotti A, Barreca GS, Branda F, Torti C, Rotundo S, Lionello R, La Gamba V, Berardelli L, Gullì SP, Trecarichi EM, Russo A, Palmieri C, De Marco C, Viglietto G, Casu M, Sanna D, Ciccozzi M, Scarpa F, Matera G. Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and viral intra- and inter-host evolution in COVID-19 hospitalized patients. J Med Virol 2024; 96:e29708. [PMID: 38804179 DOI: 10.1002/jmv.29708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2024] [Revised: 05/11/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024]
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) persistence in COVID-19 patients could play a key role in the emergence of variants of concern. The rapid intra-host evolution of SARS-CoV-2 may result in an increased transmissibility, immune and therapeutic escape which could be a direct consequence of COVID-19 epidemic currents. In this context, a longitudinal retrospective study on eight consecutive COVID-19 patients with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection, from January 2022 to March 2023, was conducted. To characterize the intra- and inter-host viral evolution, whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed on nasopharyngeal samples collected at different time points. Phylogenetic reconstruction revealed an accelerated SARS-CoV-2 intra-host evolution and emergence of antigenically divergent variants. The Bayesian inference and principal coordinate analysis analysis showed a host-based genomic structuring among antigenically divergent variants, that might reflect the positive effect of containment practices, within the critical hospital area. All longitudinal antigenically divergent isolates shared a wide range of amino acidic (aa) changes, particularly in the Spike (S) glycoprotein, that increased viral transmissibility (K417N, S477N, N501Y and Q498R), enhanced infectivity (R346T, S373P, R408S, T478K, Q498R, Y505H, D614G, H655Y, N679K and P681H), caused host immune escape (S371L, S375F, T376A, K417N, and K444T/R) and displayed partial or complete resistance to treatments (G339D, R346K/T, S371F/L, S375F, T376A, D405N, N440K, G446S, N460K, E484A, F486V, Q493R, G496S and Q498R). These results suggest that multiple novel variants which emerge in the patient during persistent infection, might spread to another individual and continue to evolve. A pro-active genomic surveillance of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infected patients is recommended to identify genetically divergent lineages before their diffusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grazia Pavia
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Angela Quirino
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Nadia Marascio
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Claudia Veneziano
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
- Interdepartmental Center of Services (CIS), Molecular Genomics and Pathology, "Magna Græcia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Federico Longhini
- Unit of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Graecia" University, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Andrea Bruni
- Unit of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Graecia" University, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Eugenio Garofalo
- Unit of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Graecia" University, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Marta Pantanella
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Michele Manno
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Simona Gigliotti
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Aida Giancotti
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Giorgio Settimo Barreca
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Francesco Branda
- Unit of Medical Statistics and Molecular Epidemiology, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - Carlo Torti
- Dipartimento di Scienze di Laboratorio e Infettivologiche, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario "A. Gemelli" IRCCS, Rome, Italy
- Dipartimento di Sicurezza e Bioetica, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
| | - Salvatore Rotundo
- Unit of Infectious and Tropical Disease, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Rosaria Lionello
- Unit of Infectious and Tropical Disease, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Valentina La Gamba
- Unit of Infectious and Tropical Disease, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Lavinia Berardelli
- Unit of Infectious and Tropical Disease, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Sara Palma Gullì
- Unit of Infectious and Tropical Disease, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Enrico Maria Trecarichi
- Unit of Infectious and Tropical Disease, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Alessandro Russo
- Unit of Infectious and Tropical Disease, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Camillo Palmieri
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Carmela De Marco
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
- Interdepartmental Center of Services (CIS), Molecular Genomics and Pathology, "Magna Græcia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Viglietto
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, "Magna Graecia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
- Interdepartmental Center of Services (CIS), Molecular Genomics and Pathology, "Magna Græcia" University of Catanzaro, Catanzaro, Italy
| | - Marco Casu
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Daria Sanna
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Massimo Ciccozzi
- Unit of Medical Statistics and Molecular Epidemiology, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, Rome, Italy
| | - Fabio Scarpa
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Giovanni Matera
- Unit of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Health Sciences, "Magna Græcia" University Hospital, Catanzaro, Italy
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Xu Z, Peng Q, Song J, Zhang H, Wei D, Demongeot J, Zeng Q. Bioinformatic analysis of defective viral genomes in SARS-CoV-2 and its impact on population infection characteristics. Front Immunol 2024; 15:1341906. [PMID: 38348041 PMCID: PMC10859446 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1341906] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
DVGs (Defective Viral Genomes) are prevalent in RNA virus infections. In this investigation, we conducted an analysis of high-throughput sequencing data and observed widespread presence of DVGs in SARS-CoV-2. Comparative analysis between SARS-CoV-2 and diverse DNA viruses revealed heightened susceptibility to damage and increased sequencing sample heterogeneity within the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Whole-genome sequencing depth variability analysis exhibited a higher coefficient of variation for SARS-CoV-2, while DVG analysis indicated a significant proportion of recombination sites, signifying notable genome heterogeneity and suggesting that a large proportion of assembled virus particles contain incomplete RNA sequences. Moreover, our investigation explored the sequencing depth and DVG content differences among various strains. Our findings revealed that as the virus evolves, there is a notable increase in the proportion of intact genomes within virus particles, as evidenced by third-generation sequencing data. Specifically, the proportion of intact genome in the Omicron strain surpassed that of the Delta and Alpha strains. This observation effectively elucidates the heightened infectiousness of the Omicron strain compared to the Delta and Alpha strains. We also postulate that this improvement in completeness stems from enhanced virus assembly capacity, as the Omicron strain can promptly facilitate the binding of RNA and capsid protein, thereby reducing the exposure time of vulnerable virus RNA in the host environment and significantly mitigating its degradation. Finally, employing mathematical modeling, we simulated the impact of DVG effects under varying environmental factors on infection characteristics and population evolution. Our findings provide an explanation for the close association between symptom severity and the extent of virus invasion, as well as the substantial disparity in population infection characteristics caused by the same strain under distinct environmental conditions. This study presents a novel approach for future virus research and vaccine development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhaobin Xu
- Department of Life Science, Dezhou University, Dezhou, China
| | - Qingzhi Peng
- Department of Life Science, Dezhou University, Dezhou, China
| | - Jian Song
- Department of Life Science, Dezhou University, Dezhou, China
| | - Hongmei Zhang
- Department of Life Science, Dezhou University, Dezhou, China
| | - Dongqing Wei
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai-Islamabad-Belgrade Joint Innovation Center on Antibacterial Resistances, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
- Zhongjing Research and Industrialization Institute of Chinese Medicine, Zhongguancun Scientific Park, Meixi, Nanyang, Henan, China
- Peng Cheng National Laboratory, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
| | - Jacques Demongeot
- Laboratory AGEIS EA 7407, Team Tools for e-Gnosis Medical, Faculty of Medicine, University Grenoble Alpes (UGA), F-38700 La Tronche, France
| | - Qiangcheng Zeng
- Department of Life Science, Dezhou University, Dezhou, China
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Zhou Z, Zheng H, Xiao G, Xie X, Rang J, Peng D. Effectiveness and safety of azvudine in older adults with mild and moderate COVID-19: a retrospective observational study. BMC Infect Dis 2024; 24:47. [PMID: 38177982 PMCID: PMC10765789 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-023-08944-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Azvudine has clinical benefits and acceptable safety against COVID-19, including in patients with comorbidities, but there is a lack of available data for its use in older adult patients. This study explored the effectiveness and safety of azvudine in older adults with mild or moderate COVID-19. METHODS This retrospective cohort study included patients aged ≥80 diagnosed with COVID-19 at the Central Hospital of Shaoyang between October and November 2022. According to the therapies they received, the eligible patients were divided into the azvudine, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, and standard-of-care (SOC) groups. The outcomes were the proportion of patients progressing to severe COVID-19, time to nucleic acid negative conversion (NANC), and the 5-, 7-, 10-, and 14-day NANC rates from admission. RESULTS The study included 55 patients treated with azvudine (n = 14), nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (n = 18), and SOC (n = 23). The median time from symptom onset to NANC of the azvudine, nirmatrelvir/ritonavir, and SOC groups was 14 (range, 6-25), 15 (range, 11-24), and 19 (range, 18-23) days, respectively. The median time from treatment initiation to NANC of the azvudine and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir groups was 8 (range, 4-20) and 9 (range, 5-16) days, respectively. The median length of hospital stay in the three groups was 10.5 (range, 5-23), 13.5 (range, 10-21), and 17 (range, 10-23) days, respectively. No treatment-related adverse events or serious adverse events were reported. CONCLUSION Azvudine showed satisfactory effectiveness and acceptable safety in older adults with mild or moderate COVID-19. Therefore, azvudine could be a treatment option for this special patient population.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhiguo Zhou
- Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, The Affiliated Changsha Hospital of Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, The First Hospital of Changsha, Changsha, Hunan, China
| | - He Zheng
- Department of Infectious Disease, The Central Hospital of Shaoyang, Shaoyang, Hunan, China
| | - Gui'e Xiao
- Department of Infectious Disease, The Central Hospital of Shaoyang, Shaoyang, Hunan, China
| | - Xiangping Xie
- Department of Infectious Disease, The Central Hospital of Shaoyang, Shaoyang, Hunan, China
| | - Jiaxi Rang
- Department of Nursing, The First Hospital of Changsha, Changsha, Hunan, China.
| | - Danhong Peng
- Department of Infectious Disease, The Central Hospital of Shaoyang, Shaoyang, Hunan, China.
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Garcia I, Lee Y, Brynildsrud O, Eldholm V, Magnus P, Blomfeldt A, Leegaard TM, Müller F, Dudman S, Caugant DA. Tracing the adaptive evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during vaccine roll-out in Norway. Virus Evol 2024; 10:vead081. [PMID: 38205440 PMCID: PMC10776306 DOI: 10.1093/ve/vead081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 has greatly mitigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, concerns have been raised about the degree to which vaccination might drive the emergence and selection of immune escape mutations that will hamper the efficacy of the vaccines. In this study, we investigate whether vaccination impacted the micro-scale adaptive evolution of SARS-CoV-2 in the Oslo region of Norway, during the first nine months of 2021, a period in which the population went from near-zero to almost 90 per cent vaccine coverage in the population over 50 years old. Weekly aggregated data stratified by age on vaccine uptake and number of SARS-CoV-2 cases in the area were obtained from the National Immunization Registry and the Norwegian Surveillance System for Communicable Diseases, respectively. A total of 6,438 virus sequences (7.5 per cent of the registered cases) along with metadata were available. We used a causal-driven approach to investigate the relationship between vaccination progress and changes in the frequency of 362 mutations present in at least ten samples, conditioned on the emergence of new lineages, time, and population vaccination coverage. After validating our approach, we identified 21 positive and 12 negative connections between vaccination progress and mutation prevalence, and most of them were outside the Spike protein. We observed a tendency for the mutations that we identified as positively connected with vaccination to decrease as the vaccinated population increased. After modelling the fitness of different competing mutations in a population, we found that our observations could be explained by a clonal interference phenomenon in which high fitness mutations would be outcompeted by the emergence or introduction of other high-fitness mutations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yunsung Lee
- Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0213 Oslo, Norway
| | - Ola Brynildsrud
- Division for Infection Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0213 Oslo, Norway
| | - Vegard Eldholm
- Division for Infection Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0213 Oslo, Norway
| | - Per Magnus
- Centre for Fertility and Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0213 Oslo, Norway
| | - Anita Blomfeldt
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Akershus University Hospital, 1478 Lørenskog, Norway
| | - Truls M Leegaard
- Department of Microbiology and Infection Control, Akershus University Hospital, 1478 Lørenskog, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway
| | - Fredrik Müller
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway
- Department of Microbiology, Oslo University Hospital, 0424 Oslo, Norway
| | - Susanne Dudman
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway
- Department of Microbiology, Oslo University Hospital, 0424 Oslo, Norway
| | - Dominique A Caugant
- Division for Infection Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 0213 Oslo, Norway
- Department of Community Medicine and Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Blindern, 0316 Oslo, Norway
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5
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Ponce-de-Leon S, Lizano M. Harnessing the post-vaccination era: Do emerging HPV types represent a new threat? Cell Host Microbe 2023; 31:1774-1775. [PMID: 37944490 DOI: 10.1016/j.chom.2023.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023]
Abstract
While the HPV vaccine is highly effective, it is unknown whether other, untargeted viral types could occupy empty niches to become an emerging threat. In this issue of Cell Host & Microbe, Pimenoff and colleagues present a community-level epidemiological analysis of HPV types up to 8 years after different vaccination policies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sergio Ponce-de-Leon
- Unidad de Epidemiología Clínica, Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Vasco de Quiroga 15, Col. Belisario Domínguez, Tlalpan, Mexico City 14080, Mexico
| | - Marcela Lizano
- Unidad de Investigación Biomédica en Cáncer, Instituto Nacional de Cancerología, Avenida San Fernando 22, Col. Sección XVI, Tlalpan, Mexico City 14080, Mexico; Departamento de Medicina Genómica y Toxicología Ambiental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito Exterior S/N, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico City 04510, Mexico.
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Rouzine IM. Long-range linkage effects in adapting sexual populations. Sci Rep 2023; 13:12492. [PMID: 37528175 PMCID: PMC10393966 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39392-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/03/2023] Open
Abstract
In sexual populations, closely-situated genes have linked evolutionary fates, while genes spaced far in genome are commonly thought to evolve independently due to recombination. In the case where evolution depends essentially on supply of new mutations, this assumption has been confirmed by mathematical modeling. Here I examine it in the case of pre-existing genetic variation, where mutation is not important. A haploid population with [Formula: see text] genomes, [Formula: see text] loci, a fixed selection coefficient, and a small initial frequency of beneficial alleles [Formula: see text] is simulated by a Monte-Carlo algorithm. When the number of loci, L, is larger than a critical value of [Formula: see text] simulation demonstrates a host of linkage effects that decrease neither with the distance between loci nor the number of recombination crossovers. Due to clonal interference, the beneficial alleles become extinct at a fraction of loci [Formula: see text]. Due to a genetic background effect, the substitution rate varies broadly between loci, with the fastest value exceeding the one-locus limit by the factor of [Formula: see text] Thus, the far-situated parts of a long genome in a sexual population do not evolve as independent blocks. A potential link between these findings and the emergence of new Variants of Concern of SARS-CoV-2 is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Igor M Rouzine
- Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Saint-Petersburg, Russia, 194223.
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