An Easier Way to Detect Neutralizing Antibodies
Scientists at Enable Biosciences issued a pre-print describing a novel cell-free in-vitro assay that can determine the neutralization or killing capacity of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.
Effective therapies for COVID-19 disease are urgently needed. A promising approach transfuses antibody-rich plasma derived from individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 to help seriously ill COVID-19 patients survive, or be given prophylactically to high-risk individuals.
“A major hurdle to sourcing sufficient high quality convalescent plasma is being able to accurately, rapidly and cost-effectively screen thousands of potential donors for neutralizing antibodies”, explained Enable CEO David Seftel, M.D. Not all survivors produce adequately neutralizing antibodies. Currently approved antibody assays only detect binding of the antibody to the viral antigen, without revealing whether the antibody is able to deactivate the virus and thus contribute to recovery. Some experimental assays are able to do this, but they require handling hazardous live or attenuated virus in cells. This can only be done in selected highly secure Biosafety Level 3 laboratories and are expensive and low-throughput.
“Our cell-free neutralization assay reveals whether a serum sample contains antibodies that are functionally able to disrupt the interaction between the S1-RBD domain of the virus and the human ACE2 receptor.” explained Dr. Jason Tsai, Ph.D., CTO of Enable Biosciences and senior author of the pre-print. “Enable’s low-cost and high-throughput neutralization capacity screening method is essential to speed vaccine development and assist in rapid large scale evaluation and implementation of critical therapies like convalescent plasma.”
Enable Biosciences is a founding partner of a coalition to provide effective convalescent plasma products to treat COVID-19. The assay is available immediately for research use.
Read the pre-print article here: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.28.20105692v1
Research reported in this press release is supported in part by the NIDDK of the National Institutes of Health under award number NIH 1 R44 DK124009-01. Content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
