Methods to Identify Immunogenic Peptides in SARS-CoV-2 Spike and Protective Monoclonal Antibodies in COVID-19 Patients.

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and the associated COVID-19 diseases are an emerging threat to global public health. Although considerable scientific research on the immune, especially antibody, responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection have been conducted, additional dominant epitopes and protective antibodies are needed for diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 patients. Here, two different phage libraries are used to identify immunogenic epitopes across the spike protein and monoclonal antibodies from COVID-19 patients. Three peptides are further characterized in the receptor-binding motif (RBM) and measured their antibody levels in COVID-19 patients, from which one identifies one most immunodominant epitope with the highest antibody response in COVID-19 patients and in immunized mice. More importantly, monoclonal antibodies specifically binding to this peptide isolated from COVID-19 patients have therapeutic potential to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 infection. Thus, the approaches to systemically identify immunogenic peptides and directly identify human monoclonal antibodies from patients will provide useful diagnostic and therapeutic tools for COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases.

• Authors: Lili Li, Meiling Gao, Jie Li, Shulong Zu, Yanan Wang, Chunfeng Chen, Dingyi Wan, Jing Duan, Roghiyh Aliyari, Jingfeng Wang, Jicai Zhang, Yujie Jin, Weijin Huang, Xiaoxia Jin, Minxin Shi, Youchun Wang, Cheng-Feng Qin, Heng Yang, Genhong Cheng
• Journal: Small methods (Small Methods) Vol. 5 Issue 7 Pg. 2100058 (Jul 15 2021) ISSN: 2366-9608 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 34514088 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2021 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.