Development and Characterization of Potential Neutralizaing Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 from Phage Display Human Antibody Library System

• Published in: The Journal of immunology (1950) Vol. 206; no. 1_Supplement; pp. 30 - 30.14
• Main Authors: Park, In Ho, Lee, Sang Pil, Yoon, Sunha, Shin, Ji-Young, Oh, Jooyeon, Lee, Hoojung, Jeon, Eenkyung, Park, Bum-Chan, Shin, Jeon-Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2021
• ISSN: 0022-1767; 1550-6606
• DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.206.Supp.30.14

Abstract Since the outbreak of Wuhan, China, in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 infection has been increasing globally, and as of January 2021, it has exceeded about 85 million people, with about 2 million deaths. Despite Covid-19 vaccines urgently approved for creating population (herd) immunity, the first need for the infected patients is a treatment. In this perspective, neutralizing antibody is the first concern because it is significant for symptom relief and rapid recovery of patients without therapeutic chemicals. Phage display human antibody library technology is a potential tool screening neutralizing antibodies specific to the receptor-binding domain, RBD of the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 virus entry to host cells. Fifteen antibodies specific to RBD were selected through Ymax®-ABL and Patient-Immune Library and characterized through ELISA, immune fluorescence assay, epitope mapping. Some of the selected antibodies were improved in the spike-neutralizing property through in vitro affinity maturation. Here, the COVID-19 therapeutic values of two promising candidates, both of which recognize different epitope sites on RBD, were functionally proved by using both in vitro cell and in vivo mouse models.