PreprintCited by 40SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Researchvaccines and immunoinformatics approachesMonoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research

Development of potency, breadth and resilience to viral escape mutations in SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies

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Muecksch, Frauke, Weisblum, Yiska, Barnes, Christopher O., Schmidt, Fabian, Schaefer-Babajew, Dennis, Lorenzi, Julio C C, Flyak, Andrew I, DeLaitsch, Andrew T +20 more·2021·bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

Abstract

Summary: Antibodies elicited in response to infection undergo somatic mutation in germinal centers that can result in higher affinity for the cognate antigen. To determine the effects of somatic mutation on the properties of SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor-binding domain (RBD)-specific antibodies, we analyzed six independent antibody lineages. As well as increased neutralization potency, antibody evolution changed pathways for acquisition of resistance and, in some cases, restricted the range of neutralization escape options. For some antibodies, maturation apparently imposed a requirement for multiple spike mutations to enable escape. For certain antibody lineages, maturation enabled neutralization of circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and heterologous sarbecoviruses. Antibody-antigen structures revealed that these properties resulted from substitutions that allowed additional variability at the interface with the RBD. These findings suggest that increasing antibody diversity through prolonged or repeated antigen exposure may improve protection against diversifying SARS-CoV-2 populations, and perhaps against other pandemic threat coronaviruses.

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  1. Barnes C.O., Jette C.A., Abernathy M.E., Dam K.A., Esswein S.R., Gristick H.B., Malyutin A.G., Sharaf N.G., Huey-Tubman K.E., Lee Y.E., (2020b). SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody structures inform therapeutic strategies. Nature 588, 682– 687. 33045718 PMC8092461
  2. Cohen A.A., Gnanapragasam P.N.P., Lee Y.E., Hoffman P.R., Ou S., Kakutani L.M., Keeffe J.R., Wu H.J., Howarth M., West A.P., (2021b). Mosaic nanoparticles elicit cross-reactive immune responses to zoonotic coronaviruses in mice. Science (New York, NY) 371, 735– 741. PMC7928838 33436524
  3. Muecksch F., Wise H., Batchelor B., Squires M., Semple E., Richardson C., McGuire J., Clearly S., Furrie E., Greig N., (2020). Longitudinal analysis of serology and neutralizing antibody levels in COVID19 convalescents. The Journal of infectious diseases. PMC7665595 33140086

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Authors
Muecksch, F., Weisblum, Y., Barnes, C. O., Schmidt, F., Schaefer-Babajew, D., Lorenzi, J. C. C., Flyak, A. I., DeLaitsch, A. T., Huey-Tubman, K. E., Hou, S., Schiffer, C. A., Gaebler, C., Wang, Z., Da Silva, J., Poston, D., Finkin, S., Cho, A., Cipolla, M., Oliveira, T. Y., Millard, K. G., Ramos, V., Gazumyan, A., Rutkowska, M., Caskey, M., Nussenzweig, M. C., Bjorkman, P. J., Hatziioannou, T., & Bieniasz, P. D.
Affiliations
  • Rockefeller University (US)
  • California Institute of Technology (US)
  • University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (US)
Corresponding author
  • Nussenzweig, Michel C.
  • Bieniasz, Paul D.
Venue
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
Publisher
openRxiv
Published
2021-03-08
OpenAlex
W3134460024
Cited by
39
References
80
Citations by year
2025: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 25
Type
posted content
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-nd
Locations
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • CaltechAUTHORS (California Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (P41GM103393, 1745301)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (UL1TR001866)
  • U.S. Department of Energy (COVID-19, P41GM103393, DE-AC02-)
  • Burroughs Wellcome Fund
  • George Mason University
  • California Institute of Technology
  • National Institutes of Health (COVID-19, AI138938, P01 AI138938-S1, TR001866, UL1TR001866)
  • Office of Science (P41GM103393, DE-AC02)
  • Beckman Institute, California Institute of Technology
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P41GM103393)
  • National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (COVID-19, R01AI78788, R01AI078788, K99AI153465, U19AI111825, P01AI138938, R37AI064003)
  • National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (TR001866)
  • Basic Energy Sciences (DE-AC02, P41GM103393)
  • Biological and Environmental Research (P41 GM103393)
  • SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (P41GM103393)
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, neutralizing antibodies, spike protein receptor-binding domain, viral escape mutations, somatic hypermutation, antibody maturation, antibody diversity, variants of concern, antibody-antigen interface

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