Analysis of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in COVID-19 convalescent blood using a coronavirus antigen microarray
Abstract
The current practice for diagnosis of COVID-19, based on SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing of pharyngeal or respiratory specimens in a symptomatic patient at high epidemiologic risk, likely underestimates the true prevalence of infection. Serologic methods can more accurately estimate the disease burden by detecting infections missed by the limited testing performed to date. Here, we describe the validation of a coronavirus antigen microarray containing immunologically significant antigens from SARS-CoV-2, in addition to SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, common human coronavirus strains, and other common respiratory viruses. A comparison of antibody profiles detected on the array from control sera collected prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic versus convalescent blood specimens from virologically confirmed COVID-19 cases demonstrates near complete discrimination of these two groups, with improved performance from use of antigen combinations that include both spike protein and nucleoprotein. This array can be used as a diagnostic tool, as an epidemiologic tool to more accurately estimate the disease burden of COVID-19, and as a research tool to correlate antibody responses with clinical outcomes.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 04, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41467-020-20095-2
Entities
People
- Aarti Jain
- Algis Jasinskas
- Andreas Buser
- Andreas Holbro
- Anil Bagri
- Charles Noesen
- D. Huw Davies
- Donald K. Milton
- Filbert Hong
- Graham Simmons
- Jiin Felgner
- Johannes Irsch
- Joshua M Obiero
- Laurence M. Corash
- Manuel Battegay
- Mars Stone
- Martin Schreiber
- Michael Busch
- Oluwasanmi Adenaiye
- Paul Contestable
- Philip Hosimer
- Philip J Norris
- Philip L. Felgner
- Rafael R. De Assis
- Rie Nakajima
- Saahir Khan
- Sheldon Tai
Organizations
- Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- United States Department of Defense