tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
EBioMedicine
. 2020 Jul 22;58:102911.
doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102911. Online ahead of print.
Linear B-cell epitopes in the spike and nucleocapsid proteins as markers of SARS-CoV-2 exposure and disease severity
Siti Naqiah Amrun[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Cheryl Yi-Pin Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Bernett Lee[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Siew-Wai Fong[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Barnaby Edward Young[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Rhonda Sin-Ling Chee[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Nicholas Kim-Wah Yeo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Anthony Torres-Ruesta[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Guillaume Carissimo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Chek Meng Poh[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zi Wei Chang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Matthew Zirui Tay[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yi-Hao Chan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mark I-Cheng Chen[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Jenny Guek-Hong Low[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Paul A Tambyah[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Shirin Kalimuddin[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Surinder Pada[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Seow-Yen Tan[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Louisa Jin Sun[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Yee-Sin Leo[SUP] 13 [/SUP], David C Lye[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Laurent Renia[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Lisa F P Ng[SUP] 14 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Given the unceasing worldwide surge in COVID-19 cases, there is an imperative need to develop highly specific and sensitive serology assays to define exposure to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Methods: Pooled plasma samples from PCR positive COVID-19 patients were used to identify linear B-cell epitopes from a SARS-CoV-2 peptide library of spike (S), envelope (E), membrane (M), and nucleocapsid (N) structural proteins by peptide-based ELISA. Hit epitopes were further validated with 79 COVID-19 patients with different disease severity status, 13 seasonal human CoV, 20 recovered SARS patients and 22 healthy donors.
Findings: Four immunodominant epitopes, S14P5, S20P2, S21P2 and N4P5, were identified on the S and N viral proteins. IgG responses to all identified epitopes displayed a strong detection profile, with N4P5 achieving the highest level of specificity (100%) and sensitivity (>96%) against SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, the magnitude of IgG responses to S14P5, S21P2 and N4P5 were strongly associated with disease severity.
Interpretation: IgG responses to the peptide epitopes can serve as useful indicators for the degree of immunopathology in COVID-19 patients, and function as higly specific and sensitive sero-immunosurveillance tools for recent or past SARS-CoV-2 infections. The flexibility of these epitopes to be used alone or in combination will allow for the development of improved point-of-care-tests (POCTs).
Funding: Biomedical Research Council (BMRC), the A*ccelerate GAP-funded project (ACCL/19-GAP064-R20H-H) from Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and National Medical Research Council (NMRC) COVID-19 Research fund (COVID19RF-001) and CCGSFPOR20002. ATR is supported by the Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA), A*STAR.
Keywords: Biomarkers; COVID-19; Epitopes; Patients; SARS-CoV-2.
. 2020 Jul 22;58:102911.
doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102911. Online ahead of print.
Linear B-cell epitopes in the spike and nucleocapsid proteins as markers of SARS-CoV-2 exposure and disease severity
Siti Naqiah Amrun[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Cheryl Yi-Pin Lee[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Bernett Lee[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Siew-Wai Fong[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Barnaby Edward Young[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Rhonda Sin-Ling Chee[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Nicholas Kim-Wah Yeo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Anthony Torres-Ruesta[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Guillaume Carissimo[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Chek Meng Poh[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Zi Wei Chang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Matthew Zirui Tay[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yi-Hao Chan[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Mark I-Cheng Chen[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Jenny Guek-Hong Low[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Paul A Tambyah[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Shirin Kalimuddin[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Surinder Pada[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Seow-Yen Tan[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Louisa Jin Sun[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Yee-Sin Leo[SUP] 13 [/SUP], David C Lye[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Laurent Renia[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Lisa F P Ng[SUP] 14 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 32711254
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102911
Abstract
Background: Given the unceasing worldwide surge in COVID-19 cases, there is an imperative need to develop highly specific and sensitive serology assays to define exposure to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Methods: Pooled plasma samples from PCR positive COVID-19 patients were used to identify linear B-cell epitopes from a SARS-CoV-2 peptide library of spike (S), envelope (E), membrane (M), and nucleocapsid (N) structural proteins by peptide-based ELISA. Hit epitopes were further validated with 79 COVID-19 patients with different disease severity status, 13 seasonal human CoV, 20 recovered SARS patients and 22 healthy donors.
Findings: Four immunodominant epitopes, S14P5, S20P2, S21P2 and N4P5, were identified on the S and N viral proteins. IgG responses to all identified epitopes displayed a strong detection profile, with N4P5 achieving the highest level of specificity (100%) and sensitivity (>96%) against SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, the magnitude of IgG responses to S14P5, S21P2 and N4P5 were strongly associated with disease severity.
Interpretation: IgG responses to the peptide epitopes can serve as useful indicators for the degree of immunopathology in COVID-19 patients, and function as higly specific and sensitive sero-immunosurveillance tools for recent or past SARS-CoV-2 infections. The flexibility of these epitopes to be used alone or in combination will allow for the development of improved point-of-care-tests (POCTs).
Funding: Biomedical Research Council (BMRC), the A*ccelerate GAP-funded project (ACCL/19-GAP064-R20H-H) from Agency of Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and National Medical Research Council (NMRC) COVID-19 Research fund (COVID19RF-001) and CCGSFPOR20002. ATR is supported by the Singapore International Graduate Award (SINGA), A*STAR.
Keywords: Biomarkers; COVID-19; Epitopes; Patients; SARS-CoV-2.