Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in COVID-19 convalescent blood using a coronavirus antigen microarray

January 4, 2021

Rafael R. de Assis; Aarti Jain; Rie Nakajima; Algis Jasinskas; Jiin Felgner; Joshua M. Obiero; Philip J. Norris; Mars Stone; Graham Simmons; Anil Bagri; Johannes Irsch; Martin Schreiber; Andreas Buser; Andreas Holbro; Manuel Battegay; Philip Hosimer; Charles Noesen; Oluwasanmi Adenaiye; Sheldon Tai; Filbert Hong; Donald K. Milton; D. Huw Davies; Paul Contestable; Laurence M. Corash; Michael P. Busch; Philip L. Felgner; Saahir Khan

Nature Communications

Assis et al. developed a SARS-COV-2 antigen to serve as a diagnostic tool, an epidemiologic tool to estimate the disease burden of COVID-19 more accurately, and a research tool to correlate antibody responses with clinical outcomes. This microarray was printed with 61 antigens associated with SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, common cold coronaviruses, and multiple other respiratory infection antigens that cause flu-like symptoms. The study determined the optimal binding antibody assay to discriminate SARS-CoV-2 convalescent sera from pre-pandemic sera contained the S2 and NP antigens for IgG (specificity = 1, sensitivity = 0.944) and the S1, S2, and NP antigens for IgA (specificity = 0.895, sensitivity = 0.944). Larger combinations of antigens were associated with decreased predictive power. The serodiagnosis performance of the assembled panel was validated as early as 7 days post symptom onset. This platform also revealed cross-reactivity of antibodies that gives insight into SARS-CoV-2 pathology and vaccine development.

De Assis RR, Jain A, Nakajima R, Jasinskas A, Felgner J, Obiero JM, Norris PJ, Stone M, Simmons G, Bagri A, Irsch J. Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in COVID-19 convalescent blood using a coronavirus antigen microarray. Nature Communications. 2021 Jan 4;12(1):1-9.

Related Articles

Partners