Cited by 909SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Researchvaccines and immunoinformatics approachesAnimal Virus Infections Studies

N-terminal domain antigenic mapping reveals a site of vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

Open access
McCallum, Matthew, De Marco, Anna, Lempp, Florian A., Tortorici, M. Alejandra, Pinto, Dora, Walls, Alexandra C., Beltramello, Martina, Chen, Alex +26 more·2021·Cell

Published version of a preprint

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) glycoprotein contains an immunodominant receptor-binding domain (RBD) targeted by most neutralizing antibodies (Abs) in COVID-19 patient plasma. Little is known about neutralizing Abs binding to epitopes outside the RBD and their contribution to protection. Here, we describe 41 human monoclonal Abs (mAbs) derived from memory B cells, which recognize the SARS-CoV-2 S N-terminal domain (NTD) and show that a subset of them neutralize SARS-CoV-2 ultrapotently. We define an antigenic map of the SARS-CoV-2 NTD and identify a supersite (designated site i) recognized by all known NTD-specific neutralizing mAbs. These mAbs inhibit cell-to-cell fusion, activate effector functions, and protect Syrian hamsters from SARS-CoV-2 challenge, albeit selecting escape mutants in some animals. Indeed, several SARS-CoV-2 variants, including the B.1.1.7, B.1.351, and P.1 lineages, harbor frequent mutations within the NTD supersite, suggesting ongoing selective pressure and the importance of NTD-specific neutralizing mAbs for protective immunity and vaccine design.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.028

Cites

127 of 127 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 130 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
McCallum, M., De Marco, A., Lempp, F. A., Tortorici, M. A., Pinto, D., Walls, A. C., Beltramello, M., Chen, A., Liu, Z., Zatta, F., Zepeda, S., di Iulio, J., Bowen, J. E., Montiel-Ruiz, M., Zhou, J., Rosen, L. E., Bianchi, S., Guarino, B., Fregni, C. S., Abdelnabi, R., Foo, S.-Y. C., Rothlauf, P. W., Bloyet, L.-M., Benigni, F., Cameroni, E., Neyts, J., Riva, A., Snell, G., Telenti, A., Whelan, S. P. J., Virgin, H. W., Corti, D., Pizzuto, M. S., & Veesler, D.
Affiliations
  • University of Washington (US)
  • VIR Biotechnology (United States) (US)
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
  • Vir Biotechnology (Switzerland) (CH)
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • Rega Institute for Medical Research (BE)
  • University of Milan (IT)
Corresponding author
  • Corti, Davide
  • Pizzuto, Matteo Samuele
  • Veesler, David
Venue
Cell
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-04
Volume
184
Issue
9
Pages
2332-2347.e16
ISSN
0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3136616180
Cited by
901
References
130
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 64 · 2024: 92 · 2023: 154 · 2022: 270 · 2021: 269 · 2020: 2 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 1
FWCI
62.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell (publishedVersion)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Lirias (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion)
  • HAL (submittedVersion)
  • Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca (Universita Degli Studi Di Milano) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Lirias (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
NIGMS
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
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Animal Virus Infections Studies
Keywords
SARS-CoV-2, spike protein, N-terminal domain, neutralizing antibodies, monoclonal antibodies, antigenic mapping, receptor binding domain, SARS-CoV-2 variants, Alpha variant, Beta variant, P.1 lineage, vaccine design

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review