Discovery of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies from a naïve human Ab library
https://news.google.com/articl…=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
Human naïve antibodies contain anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibodies
The virus elicits neutralizing antibodies that prevent viral entry into the host cells. Most of these antibodies are directed against the viral spike glycoprotein, specifically its receptor-binding domain (RBD), a small immunodominant region. Antibodies to the RBD are of several types, each type targeting a different epitope, though there is a degree of overlap. This indicates that neutralization can occur via multiple mechanisms occurring via inhibition of viral entry at more than one site on the RBD.
The majority of RBD antibodies described so far are surprisingly similar to their germline precursors, a state called low somatic hypermutation. This means that not only is it easy to produce anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibodies, it makes it convenient for researchers to use naïve antibody libraries to pick out novel therapeutic antibodies and to compare antibody clones selected by their ability to bind the viral antigens in vitro with those that arise during natural infection or vaccination.
The researchers used yeast display techniques to isolate three novel neutralizing antibodies from one such library. Of these antibodies, ABP18 blocks RBD-ACE2 binding, while two (NBP10 and NBP11) do not. Thus, the technique proved to be capable of differentiating antibodies that blocked ACE2 and those that did not.
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