1. Synthetic antibodies neutralize SARS-CoV-2 infection of mammalian cells
- Author
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Shane Miersch, Pier Paolo Pandolfi, Safder Ganaie, Giulia Matusali, Giuseppe Novelli, Suresh Jain, James M. Rini, Sachdev S. Sidhu, Mart Ustav, Michael S. Diamond, Jang B. Gupta, James Brett Case, Daniele Lapa, Maria Rosaria Capobianchi, Gaya K. Amarasinghe, Francesca Colavita, and Zhijie Li
- Subjects
biology ,Zoonotic Infection ,medicine.drug_class ,viruses ,fungi ,virus diseases ,RNA ,Monoclonal antibody ,medicine.disease ,Virology ,Virus ,Neutralization ,respiratory tract diseases ,medicine ,biology.protein ,Vero cell ,Middle East respiratory syndrome ,Antibody - Abstract
Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of enveloped, RNA viruses that circulate in mammals and birds but have crossed the species barrier to infect humans seven times. Of these, three pathogenic strains have caused zoonotic infections in humans that result in severe respiratory syndromes including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV), severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV), and now SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses, the latter of which is the cause of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Here, we describe a panel of synthetic monoclonal antibodies, built on a human framework, that bind SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, compete for binding with ACE2, and potently inhibit infection by SARS-CoV-2. These antibodies were found to have a range of neutralization potencies against live virus infection in Vero E6 cells, potently inhibiting authentic SARS-CoV-2 virus at sub-nanomolar concentrations. These antibodies represent strong immunotherapeutic candidates for treatment of COVID-19.
- Published
- 2020