Automated and virus variant-programmable surrogate test qualitatively compares to the gold standard SARS-CoV-2 neutralization assay

Abstract The ongoing emergence of new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants underscores the need for rapid, adaptable, high-throughput testing. However, assays for neutralizing antibodies, which are a good measure of viral protection, usually require cell culture and...

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Main Authors: Danielle W. Ali, Maggie L. Bartlett, Christopher D. Heger, Francisco Ramirez, Linwood Johnson, Kevin L. Schully, Eric D. Laing, Wei Wang, Carol D. Weiss, Emilie Goguet, Christopher C. Broder, Stephanie A. Richard, Nusrat J. Epsi, Brian Agan, David Tribble, Mark P. Simons, Timothy H. Burgess, Edward Mitre, Simon Pollett, Darci R. Smith
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2024-12-01
Series:npj Viruses
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s44298-024-00083-9
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Summary:Abstract The ongoing emergence of new severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants underscores the need for rapid, adaptable, high-throughput testing. However, assays for neutralizing antibodies, which are a good measure of viral protection, usually require cell culture and either infectious SARS-CoV-2 or pseudotyped viral particles. To circumvent the challenges of cell-based assays, SARS-CoV-2 surrogate virus neutralization tests (sVNTs) measure inhibition of the binding of the spike (S) protein receptor binding domain (RBD) to its receptor, human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) by neutralizing antibodies. Here we tested a prototype automated microfluidic cartridge-based sVNT platform using SARS-CoV-2 wild-type (WT) and B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant RBDs. This sVNT showed a high correlation with cell-based neutralization assays for biospecimens collected post-COVID-19 vaccination and post-SARS-CoV-2 infection as well as for pre-pandemic SARS-CoV-2 negative sera. Thus, this assay, which takes less than 80 min, is a relatively simple, safe, and accurate alternative to traditional VNTs.
ISSN:2948-1767