Multianalyte serology in home-sampled blood enables an unbiased assessment of the immune response against SARS-CoV-2.

Serological testing is essential to curb the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most assays are still limited to single analytes and samples collected within healthcare. Thus, we establish a multianalyte and multiplexed approach to reliably profile IgG and IgM levels against several versions of SARS-CoV-2 proteins (S, RBD, N) in home-sampled dried blood spots (DBS). We analyse DBS collected during spring of 2020 from 878 random and undiagnosed individuals from the population in Stockholm, Sweden, and use classification approaches to estimate an accumulated seroprevalence of 12.5% (95% CI: 10.3%-14.7%). This includes 5.4% of the samples being IgG+IgM+ against several SARS-CoV-2 proteins, as well as 2.1% being IgG-IgM+ and 5.0% being IgG+IgM- for the virus' S protein. Subjects classified as IgG+ for several SARS-CoV-2 proteins report influenza-like symptoms more frequently than those being IgG+ for only the S protein (OR = 6.1; p < 0.001). Among all seropositive cases, 30% are asymptomatic. Our strategy enables an accurate individual-level and multiplexed assessment of antibodies in home-sampled blood, assisting our understanding about the undiagnosed seroprevalence and diversity of the immune response against the coronavirus.

Systematic assessment of antibody selectivity in plasma based on a resource of enrichment profiles.

There is a strong need for procedures that enable context and application dependent validation of antibodies. Here, we applied a magnetic bead assisted workflow and immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry (IP-MS/MS) to assess antibody selectivity for the detection of proteins in human plasma. A resource was built on 414 IP experiments using 157 antibodies (targeting 120 unique proteins) in assays with heat-treated or untreated EDTA plasma. For each protein we determined their antibody related degrees of enrichment using z-scores and their frequencies of identification across all IP assays. Out of 1,313 unique endogenous proteins, 426 proteins (33%) were detected in >20% of IPs, and these background components were mainly comprised of proteins from the complement system. For 45% (70/157) of the tested antibodies, the expected target proteins were enriched (z-score ≥ 3). Among these 70 antibodies, 59 (84%) co-enriched other proteins beside the intended target and mainly due to sequence homology or protein abundance. We also detected protein interactions in plasma, and for IGFBP2 confirmed these using several antibodies and sandwich immunoassays. The protein enrichment data with plasma provide a very useful and yet lacking resource for the assessment of antibody selectivity. Our insights will contribute to a more informed use of affinity reagents for plasma proteomics assays.

High-Density Antigen Microarrays for the Assessment of Antibody Selectivity and Off-Target Binding.

With the increasing availability of collections of antibodies, their evaluation in terms of binding selectivity becomes an important but challenging task. Planar antigen microarrays are very suitable tools to address this task and provide a powerful proteomics platform for the characterization of the binding selectivity of antibodies toward thousands of antigens in parallel. In this chapter, we describe our in-house developed procedures for the generation of high-density planar antigen microarrays with over 21,000 features. We also provide the details of the assay protocol, which we routinely use for the assessment of binding selectivity of the polyclonal antibodies generated within the Human Protein Atlas.

Multiplexed Antigen Bead Arrays for the Assessment of Antibody Selectivity and Epitope Mapping.

With the increasing number of binding reagents for affinity-based investigations of the human proteome, high-throughput tools for the characterization of the used reagents become essential. For the analysis of binding selectivity, bead-based antigen arrays offer a miniaturized and parallelized assay platform to meet such needs, as they enable two-dimensional multiplexing to analyze up to 384 samples against up to 500 analytes in a single round of analysis. In this chapter, we describe our protocols for the generation of multiplex bead arrays built on immobilized protein fragments, as well as biotinylated peptides. Combined together, these two versions of antigen arrays offer a versatile approach for multiplexed characterization of antibody binding selectivity, off-target interactions, as well as mapping for the amino acids of epitopes involved in antibody binding.

Assessment of antibody specificity using suspension bead arrays.

With the increasing collection of affinity reagents, their validation in terms of functionality and binding specificity becomes a challenge. To match this growing need, miniaturized and parallelized platforms have become available to corroborate the applicability for a broad range of binder scaffolds. Among the -commonly used systems, planar microarrays have been a platform of choice for a long time but alternative systems are emerging, of which one is based on color-coded beads for the creation of arrays in suspension. The latter systems offer to perform a two-dimensional multiplexing by now analyzing up to 384 samples against up to 500 analytes in a single experiment. While the analyte parameter is flexible in terms of its composition, an extended screening can be facilitated without the need to set up a microarray production facility.