J Infect Dis . Sensitive Immunodetection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variants of Concern 501Y.V2 and 501Y.V1

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J Infect Dis


. 2021 Aug 16;224(4):616-619.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab278.
Sensitive Immunodetection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Variants of Concern 501Y.V2 and 501Y.V1


Moria Barlev-Gross ¹ , Shay Weiss ¹ , Nir Paran ¹ , Yfat Yahalom-Ronen ¹ , Ofir Israeli ² , Ital Nemet ³ , Limor Kliker ³ , Neta Zuckerman ³ , Itai Glinert ¹ , Tal Noy-Porat ² , Ron Alcalay ² , Ronit Rosenfeld ² , Haim Levy ¹ , Ohad Mazor ¹ , Michal Mandelboim ^{3 4} , Ella Mendelson ^{3 4} , Adi Beth-Din ² , Tomer Israely ¹ , Adva Mechaly ¹



Affiliations

• PMID: 34398244
• DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiab278

Abstract

Emerging severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants may influence the effectiveness of existing laboratory diagnostics. In the current study we determined whether the British (20I/501Y.V1) and South African (20H/501Y.V2) SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern are detected with an in-house S1-based antigen detection assay, analyzing spiked pools of quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction-negative nasopharyngeal swab specimens. The assay, combining 4 monoclonal antibodies, allowed sensitive detection of both the wild type and the variants of concern, despite accumulation of several mutations in the variants' S1 region-results suggesting that this combination, targeting distinct epitopes, enables both specificity and the universality.

Keywords: 501Y.V1; 501Y.V2; Antibodies; Antigen detection; SARS-CoV-2; Variants of Concern; spike protein.