Cited by 803SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Researchvaccines and immunoinformatics approachesMonoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research

Structures of Human Antibodies Bound to SARS-CoV-2 Spike Reveal Common Epitopes and Recurrent Features of Antibodies

Open access
Barnes, Christopher O., West, Anthony P., Huey-Tubman, Kathryn E., Hoffmann, Magnus A.G., Sharaf, Naima G., Hoffman, Pauline R., Koranda, Nicholas, Gristick, Harry B. +15 more·2020·Cell

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Abstract

and RBD epitopes on SARS-CoV-2 spike. Moreover, a 3.4 Å cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of a neutralizing monoclonal Fab-spike complex revealed an epitope that blocks ACE2 receptor binding. Modeling based on these structures suggested different potentials for inter-spike crosslinking by IgGs on viruses, and characterized IgGs would not be affected by identified SARS-CoV-2 spike mutations. Overall, our studies structurally define a recurrent anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody class derived from VH3-53/VH3-66 and similarity to a SARS-CoV VH3-30 antibody, providing criteria for evaluating vaccine-elicited antibodies.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.cell.2020.06.025

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  • In vaccine recipients, the ability of plasma to neutralize virus and the proportion of memory B cells specific for RBD matched those seen in people who had recovered from natural infection.

    “Moreover, the plasma neutralizing activity, and the relative numbers of RBD-specific memory B cells were equivalent to individuals who recovered from natural infection7,8.”
  • Plasma neutralizing activity directly correlated with anti-S and anti-RBD binding titers in ELISAs.

    “As expected, plasma neutralizing activity was directly correlated to anti-S and -RBD binding titers in ELISAs7,8 (Fig. 1c, d, and Extended Data Fig. 2a–d).”
  • Class 1 antibodies are resisted by A475V; class 2 by E484K and Q493R; class 3 by R346S, N439K, and N440K.

    “A475V is resistant to class 1 antibodies (structurally defined as described29); E484K and Q493R are resistant to class 2 antibodies7,8,12,13,29,30,32,33; while R346S, N439K, and N440K are resistant to class 3 antibodies7,8,12,13,29,33.”
  • In vaccinees, antibodies with identical IGHV-IGLV gene pairings accounted for 39% of clonal sequences; adding naturally infected individuals raised this to 59%.

    “In addition, antibodies that share the same combination of IGHV and IGLV genes in vaccinees comprised 39% of all the clonal sequences (Extended Data Fig. 4b) and 59% when combined with naturally infected individuals7,8 (Fig. 2f), and some of these antibodies were nearly identical (Extended Data Table 3 and 4).”
  • Antibodies in classes 1 and 2 are both highly potent and highly abundant.

    “Class 1 and 2 antibodies are among the most potent and also the most abundant antibodies7,8,21,22,25,39.”

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Authors
Barnes, C. O., West, A. P., Huey-Tubman, K. E., Hoffmann, M. A. G., Sharaf, N. G., Hoffman, P. R., Koranda, N., Gristick, H. B., Gaebler, C., Muecksch, F., Lorenzi, J. C. C., Finkin, S., Hägglöf, T., Hurley, A., Millard, K. G., Weisblum, Y., Schmidt, F., Hatziioannou, T., Bieniasz, P. D., Caskey, M., Robbiani, D. F., Nussenzweig, M. C., & Bjorkman, P. J.
Affiliations
  • California Institute of Technology (US)
  • Rockefeller University (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
Nussenzweig, Michel C.
Venue
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-08
Volume
182
Issue
4
Pages
828-842.e16
ISSN
0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3036607916
Cited by
795
References
109
Citations by year
2026: 34 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 50 · 2023: 84 · 2022: 151 · 2021: 319 · 2020: 107
FWCI
21.66
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1 TR001866)
  • Burroughs Wellcome Fund
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Basic Energy Sciences (DE-AC02-76SF00515)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P41GM103393, 2U19AI111825, P50 8 P50 AI150464-13, P01-AI138938-S1)
  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (INV-002143)
  • Office of Science
  • Biological and Environmental Research
  • U.S. Department of Energy
  • Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology
  • George Mason University
  • California Institute of Technology
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Rockefeller University
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › vaccines and immunoinformatics approaches
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, human antibodies, neutralizing antibodies, ACE2 binding, IgG, spike protein mutations, vaccine-elicited antibodies, antibody structure

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