scholarly journals A high-throughput neutralizing antibody assay for COVID-19 diagnosis and vaccine evaluation

Author(s):  
Antonio E. Muruato ◽  
Camila R. Fontes-Garfias ◽  
Ping Ren ◽  
Mariano A. Garcia-Blanco ◽  
Vineet D. Menachery ◽  
...  

AbstractVirus neutralization remains the gold standard for determining antibody efficacy. Therefore, a high-throughput assay to measure SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies is urgently needed for COVID-19 serodiagnosis, convalescent plasma therapy, and vaccine development. Here we report on a fluorescence-based SARS-CoV-2 neutralization assay that detects SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in COVID-19 patient specimens and yields comparable results to plaque reduction neutralizing assay, the gold standard of serological testing. Our approach offers a rapid platform that can be scaled to screen people for antibody protection from COVID-19, a key parameter necessary to safely reopen local communities.

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1105-1112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Kennedy ◽  
V. Shane Pankratz ◽  
Eric Swanson ◽  
David Watson ◽  
Hana Golding ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Because of the bioterrorism threat posed by agents such as variola virus, considerable time, resources, and effort have been devoted to biodefense preparation. One avenue of this research has been the development of rapid, sensitive, high-throughput assays to validate immune responses to poxviruses. Here we describe the adaptation of a β-galactosidase reporter-based vaccinia virus neutralization assay to large-scale use in a study that included over 1,000 subjects. We also describe the statistical methods involved in analyzing the large quantity of data generated. The assay and its associated methods should prove useful tools in monitoring immune responses to next-generation smallpox vaccines, studying poxvirus immunity, and evaluating therapeutic agents such as vaccinia virus immune globulin.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liping Huang ◽  
Ying Li ◽  
Luo Changyou ◽  
Nadia Touil ◽  
Hicham el Annaz ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe COVID-19 vaccination efficacy depends on serum production level of the neutralizing IgG antibody (NA) specific to the receptor binding domain of SARS-Cov-2 spike protein. Therefore, a high-throughput rapid assay to measure the total SARS-CoV-2 NA level is urgently needed for COVID-19 serodiagnosis, convalescent plasma therapy, vaccine development, and assessment. Here, we developed a nanoplasmonic immunosorbent assay (NanoPISA) platform for one-step rapid quantification of SARS-CoV-2 NAs in clinical serum samples for high-throughput evaluation of COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness. The NanoPISA platform enhanced by the use of nanoporous hollow gold nanoparticle coupling was able to detect SARS-CoV-2 NAs with a limit of detection of 0.1 ng/mL within 15 min. The one-step NanoPISA for SARS-CoV-2 NA detection in clinical specimens yielded good results, comparable to those obtained in the gold standard seroneutralization test and the surrogate virus neutralizing ELISA. Collectively, our findings indicate that the one-step NanoPISA may offer a rapid and high-throughput NA quantification platform for evaluating the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.


Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 297
Author(s):  
Jean Claude Balingit ◽  
Minh Huong Phu Ly ◽  
Mami Matsuda ◽  
Ryosuke Suzuki ◽  
Futoshi Hasebe ◽  
...  

Mosquito-borne flavivirus infections, including dengue virus and Zika virus, are major public health threats globally. While the plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) is considered the gold standard for determining neutralizing antibody levels to flaviviruses, the assay is time-consuming and laborious. This study, therefore, aimed to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based microneutralization test (EMNT) for the detection of neutralizing antibodies to mosquito-borne flaviviruses. The inhibition of viral growth due to neutralizing antibodies was determined colorimetrically by using EMNT. Given the significance of Fcγ-receptors (FcγR) in antibody-mediated neutralization and antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of flavivirus infection, non-FcγR and FcγR-expressing cell lines were used in the EMNT to allow the detection of the sum of neutralizing and immune-enhancing antibody activity as the neutralizing titer. Using anti-flavivirus monoclonal antibodies and clinical samples, the utility of EMNT was evaluated by comparing the end-point titers of the EMNT and the PRNT. The correlation between EMNT and PRNT titers was strong, indicating that EMNT was robust and reproducible. The new EMNT assay combines the biological functional assessment of virus neutralization activity and the technical advantages of ELISA and, is simple, reliable, practical, and could be automated for high-throughput implementation in flavivirus surveillance studies and vaccine trials.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madina Rasulova ◽  
Thomas Vercruysse ◽  
Jasmine Paulissen ◽  
Catherina Coun ◽  
Vanessa Suin ◽  
...  

Quick and accurate detection of neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) against yellow fever is essential in serodiagnosis during outbreaks, for surveillance and to evaluate vaccine efficacy in population-wide studies. All this requires serological assays that can process a large number of samples in a highly standardized format. Albeit being laborious, time-consuming and limited in throughput, classical plaque reduction neutralization test (PRNT) is still considered gold standard for the detection and quantification of nAbs due to its sensitivity and specificity. Here we report the development of an alternative fluorescence-based serological assay (SNTFLUO) with an equally high sensitivity and specificity that is fit for high-throughput testing with the potential for automation. Finally, our novel SNTFLUO was cross-validated in several reference laboratories and against international WHO standards showing its potential to be implemented in clinical use. SNTFLUO assays with similar performance are available for the Japanese encephalitis, Zika and dengue viruses amenable for differential diagnostics.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 340-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel D. Lambert ◽  
V. Shane Pankratz ◽  
Beth R. Larrabee ◽  
Adaeze Ogee-Nwankwo ◽  
Min-hsin Chen ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTRubella remains a social and economic burden due to the high incidence of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in some countries. For this reason, an accurate and efficient high-throughput measure of antibody response to vaccination is an important tool. In order to measure rubella-specific neutralizing antibodies in a large cohort of vaccinated individuals, a high-throughput immunocolorimetric system was developed. Statistical interpolation models were applied to the resulting titers to refine quantitative estimates of neutralizing antibody titers relative to the assayed neutralizing antibody dilutions. This assay, including the statistical methods developed, can be used to assess the neutralizing humoral immune response to rubella virus and may be adaptable for assessing the response to other viral vaccines and infectious agents.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Fenwick ◽  
Priscilla Turelli ◽  
Celine Pellaton ◽  
Alex Farina ◽  
Jeremy Campos ◽  
...  

The detection of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies in the serum of an individual indicates prior infection or vaccination. However, it provides limited insight into the protective nature of this immune response. Neutralizing antibodies recognizing the viral Spike are far more revealing, yet their measurement traditionally requires virus- and cell-based systems that are costly, time-consuming, poorly flexible and potentially biohazardous. Here we present a cell-free quantitative neutralization assay based on the competitive inhibition of trimeric SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein binding to the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) viral receptor. This high-throughput method matches the performance of the gold standard live virus infectious assay, as verified with a panel of 206 seropositive donors with varying degrees of infection severity and virus-specific IgG titers, achieving 96.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Furthermore, it allows for the parallel assessment of neutralizing activities against multiple SARS-CoV-2 Spike variants of concern (VOC), which is otherwise unpredictable even in individuals displaying robust neutralizing antibody responses. Profiling serum samples from 59 hospitalized COVID-19 patients, we found that although most had high activity against the 2019-nCoV Spike and to a lesser extent the B.1.1.7 variant, only 58% could efficiently neutralize a Spike derivative containing mutations present in the B.1.351 variant. In conclusion, we have developed an assay that has proven its clinical relevance in the large-scale evaluation of effective neutralizing antibody responses to VOC after natural infection and that can be applied to the characterization of vaccine-induced antibody responses and of the potency of human monoclonal antibodies.


Author(s):  
Vincent Legros ◽  
Solène Denolly ◽  
Manon Vogrig ◽  
Bertrand Boson ◽  
Eglantine Siret ◽  
...  

AbstractUnderstanding the immune responses elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical in terms of protection against reinfection and, thus, for public health policy and vaccine development for COVID-19. In this study, using either live SARS-CoV-2 particles or retroviruses pseudotyped with the SARS-CoV-2 S viral surface protein (Spike), we studied the neutralizing antibody (nAb) response in serum samples from a cohort of 140 SARS-CoV-2 qPCR-confirmed infections, including patients with mild symptoms and also more severe forms, including those that required intensive care. We show that nAb titers correlated strongly with disease severity and with anti-spike IgG levels. Indeed, patients from intensive care units exhibited high nAb titers; conversely, patients with milder disease symptoms had heterogeneous nAb titers, and asymptomatic or exclusive outpatient-care patients had no or low nAbs. We found that nAb activity in SARS-CoV-2-infected patients displayed a relatively rapid decline after recovery compared to individuals infected with other coronaviruses. Moreover, we found an absence of cross-neutralization between endemic coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2, indicating that previous infection by human coronaviruses may not generate protective nAbs against SARS-CoV-2. Finally, we found that the D614G mutation in the spike protein, which has recently been identified as the current major variant in Europe, does not allow neutralization escape. Altogether, our results contribute to our understanding of the immune correlates of SARS-CoV-2-induced disease, and rapid evaluation of the role of the humoral response in the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 is warranted.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 284
Author(s):  
Hulda R. Jonsdottir ◽  
Michel Bielecki ◽  
Denise Siegrist ◽  
Thomas W. Buehrer ◽  
Roland Züst ◽  
...  

Neutralizing antibodies are an important part of the humoral immune response to SARS-CoV-2. It is currently unclear to what extent such antibodies are produced after non-severe disease or asymptomatic infection. We studied a cluster of SARS-CoV-2 infections among a homogeneous population of 332 predominantly male Swiss soldiers and determined the neutralizing antibody response with a serum neutralization assay using a recombinant SARS-CoV-2-GFP. All patients with non-severe COVID-19 showed a swift humoral response within two weeks after the onset of symptoms, which remained stable for the duration of the study. One month after the outbreak, titers in COVID-19 convalescents did not differ from the titers of asymptomatically infected individuals. Furthermore, symptoms of COVID-19 did not correlate with neutralizing antibody titers. Therefore, we conclude that asymptomatic infection can induce the same humoral immunity as non-severe COVID-19 in young adults.


Vaccine ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (33) ◽  
pp. 3901-3906 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Baccari ◽  
Michael Cooney ◽  
Tamara P. Blevins ◽  
Lynda A. Morrison ◽  
Shane Larson ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-An Kung ◽  
Chung-Guei Huang ◽  
Sheng-Yu Huang ◽  
Kuan-Ting Liu ◽  
Peng-Nien Huang ◽  
...  

The World Health Organization (WHO) has highlighted the importance of an international standard (IS) for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titer detection, with the aim of calibrating different diagnostic techniques. In this study, IS was applied to calibrate neutralizing antibody titers (IU/mL) and binding antibody titers (BAU/mL) in response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Serum samples were collected from participants receiving the Moderna (n = 20) and Pfizer (n = 20) vaccines at three time points: pre-vaccination, after one dose, and after two doses. We obtained geometric mean titers of 1404.16 and 928.75 IU/mL for neutralizing antibodies after two doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, respectively. These values provide an important baseline for vaccine development and the implementation of non-inferiority trials. We also compared three commercially available kits from Roche, Abbott, and MeDiPro for the detection of COVID-19 antibodies based on binding affinity to S1 and/or RBD. Our results demonstrated that antibody titers measured by commercial assays are highly correlated with neutralizing antibody titers calibrated by IS.


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