Longitudinal isolation of potent near-germline SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies from COVID-19 patients

Kreer, C.; Zehner, M.; Weber, T.; Rohde, C.; Halwe, S.; Ercanoglu, M. S.; Gieselmann, L.; Korenkov, M.; Gruell, H.; Schommers, P.; Vanshylla, K.; Di Cristanziano, V.; Janicki, H.; Brinker, R.; Ashurov, A.; Kraehling, V.; Kupke, A.; Cohen-Dvashi, H.; Koch, M.; Lederer, S.; Pfeifer, N.; Wolf, T.; Vehreschild, M. J. G. T.; Wendtner, C.; Diskin, R.; Becker, S.; Klein, F.

doi:10.1101/2020.06.12.146290

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/2020.06.12.146290

Longitudinal isolation of potent near-germline SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies from COVID-19 patients

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Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has unprecedented implications for public health, social life, and world economy. Since approved drugs and vaccines are not available, new options for COVID-19 treatment and prevention are highly demanded. To identify SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, we analysed the antibody response of 12 COVID-19 patients from 8 to 69 days post diagnosis. By screening 4,313 SARS-CoV-2-reactive B cells, we isolated 255 antibodies from different time points as early as 8 days post diagnosis. Among these, 28 potently neutralized authentic SARS-CoV-2 (IC100 as low as 0.04 g/ml), showing a broad spectrum of V genes and low levels of somatic mutations. Interestingly, potential precursors were identified in naive B cell repertoires from 48 healthy individuals that were sampled before the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies are readily generated from a diverse pool of precursors, fostering the hope of rapid induction of a protective immune response upon vaccination.

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Kreer, C., Zehner, M., Weber, T., Rohde, C., Halwe, S., Ercanoglu, M. S., Gieselmann, L., Korenkov, M., Gruell, H., Schommers, P., Vanshylla, K., Di Cristanziano, V., Janicki, H., Brinker, R., Ashurov, A., Kraehling, V., Kupke, A., Cohen-Dvashi, H., Koch, M., Lederer, S., Pfeifer, N., Wolf, T., Vehreschild, M. J. G. T., Wendtner, C., Diskin, R., Becker, S., Klein, F.. 2020-06-12. Longitudinal isolation of potent near-germline SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies from COVID-19 patients. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.06.12.146290

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