Development of SARS-CoV-2 variant protein microarray for profiling humoral immunity in vaccinated subjects

• Published in: Biosensors & bioelectronics Vol. 204; p. 114067
• Main Authors: Ho, Tzong-Shiann, Du, Pin-Xian, Su, Wen-Yu, Santos, Harvey M., Lin, Ya-Lan, Chou, Yi-Yu, Keskin, Batuhan Birol, Pau, Chi Ho, Syu, Guan-Da
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier B.V 15.05.2022
• Subjects: antibodies; Antibodies, Neutralizing; Antibodies, Viral; Biosensing Techniques; biosensors; ChAdOx1 nCoV-19; COVID-19; drug development; Humans; humoral immunity; Immunity, Humoral; neutralization; neutralization tests; Neutralizing antibody; people; Protein Array Analysis; Protein microarray; protein microarrays; SARS-CoV-2; Serology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus; vaccination; Vaccine; vaccines; Variants of concern; ACE2; SARS-CoV-2; CoVariant; Variants of concern; Serology; Vaccine; Protein microarray; Neutralizing antibody
• ISSN: 0956-5663; 1873-4235; 1873-4235
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2022.114067

SARS-CoV-2 is quickly evolving from wild-type to many variants and spreading around the globe. Since many people have been vaccinated with various types of vaccines, it is crucial to develop a high throughput platform for measuring the antibody responses and surrogate neutralizing activities against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants. To meet this need, the present study developed a SARS-CoV-2 variant (CoVariant) array which consists of the extracellular domain of spike variants, e.g., wild-type, D614G, B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, B.1.617, B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2, and B.1.617.3. A surrogate virus neutralization on the CoVariant array was established to quantify the bindings of antibody and host receptor ACE2 simultaneously to spike variants. By using a chimeric anti-spike antibody, we demonstrated a broad binding spectrum of antibodies while inhibiting the bindings of ACE2 to spike variants. To monitor the humoral immunities after vaccination, we collected serums from unvaccinated, partial, or fully vaccinated individuals with either mRNA-1273 or AZD1222 (ChAdOx1). The results showed partial vaccination increased the surrogate neutralization against all the mutants while full vaccination boosted the most. Although IgG, IgA, and IgM isotypes correlated with surrogate neutralizing activities, they behave differently throughout the vaccination processes. Overall, this study developed CoVariant arrays and assays for profiling the humoral responses which are useful for immune assessment, vaccine research, and drug development. •Constructing a protein microarray with variant spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 (CoVariant protein array).•Measuring the antibody and the neutralizing antibody through CoVariant protein array.•Compare the differences between the COVID-19 vector and mRNA vaccine.•Full vaccination of AZD1222 elevates serum IgG and IgA while mRNA-1273 evokes serum IgG and IgM.