Emerg Microbes Infect . Accurate Serology for SARS-CoV-2 and common Human Coronaviruses using a Multiplex Approach

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Emerg Microbes Infect


. 2020 Aug 20;1-24.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1813636. Online ahead of print.
Accurate Serology for SARS-CoV-2 and common Human Coronaviruses using a Multiplex Approach


Sophie van Tol ¹ , Ramona M?gling ¹ , Wentao Li ² , Gert-Jan Godeke ¹ , Arno Swart ¹ , Barbara Bergmans ³ , Afke Brandenburg ⁴ , Kristin Kremer ¹ , Jean-Luc Murk ³ , Josine van Beek ¹ , Bas Wintermans ^{5 6} , Johan Reimerink ¹ , Berend-Jan Bosch ² , Chantal Reusken ¹



Affiliations

• PMID: 32819220
• DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1813636

Abstract

Serology is a crucial part of the public health response to the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, but there are still many unknowns. Here, we describe the development, validation and clinical evaluation of a protein micro-array as a quantitative multiplex immunoassay that can identify S and N-directed SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies with high specificity and sensitivity and distinguish them from all currently circulating human coronaviruses. The method specificity was 100% for SARS-CoV-2 S1 and 96 % for N antigen based on extensive syndromic (n=230 cases) and population panel (n=94) testing that also confirmed the high prevalence of seasonal human coronaviruses. To assess the potential role of the protein micro-array for both SARS-CoV-2 patient diagnostics and population studies, we evaluated a large heterogeneous COVID-19 cohort (n=330) and found an overall sensitivity of 89% (≥ 21 days post onset symptoms (dps)), which ranged from 86% to 96% depending on severity of disease. For a subset of these patients longitudinal samples were provided up to 56 dps. We observed an absent or delayed, and lower SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses in mild cases. Overall, we present the development and extensive clinical validation of a multiplex human coronavirus serological assay that can be used for syndromic testing, to answer research questions regarding human coronavirus antibody responses, to support SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics where RT-PCR lacks in sensitivity and to evaluate epidemiological developments efficiently and with high-throughput.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; immune profiling; micro-array; serology.