Monoclonal antibody isolation and characterization for COVID-19 Effort

National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases

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Abstract

To date, we have isolated more than 100 SARS-CoV-2-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from SARS-CoV-2 convalescent donors and characterized their functionality in vitro. More than 25 of these mAbs isolated and characterized were neutralizing against SARS-CoV-2 with several also able to neutralize multiple Variants of Concern (VOC). Two of these antibodies are of particular interest: one for its ability to potently neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and multiple VOCs and another for its ability to neutralize SARS-CoV-2, multiple VOCs as well as SARS1. We are also isolating and characterizing mAbs from cells of human donors who have been fully vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2 as well as donors who have been infected with VOC. We are also working on generation of a stable cell line co-expressing hACE2 and TMPRSS2a for use as target cells in the SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus neutralization assay. Once established, this stable cell line will allow for consistent and reproducible evaluation of neutralizing activity by mAb and human donor serum samples in vitro.