Functional Analysis of Human and Feline Coronavirus Cross-Reactive Antibodies Directed Against the SARS-CoV-2 Fusion Peptide.
Front Immunol
; 12: 790415, 2021.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35069571
ABSTRACT
To face the continuous emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants, broadly protective therapeutic antibodies are highly needed. We here focused on the fusion peptide (FP) region of the viral spike antigen since it is highly conserved among alpha- and betacoronaviruses. First, we found that coronavirus cross-reactive antibodies are commonly formed during infection, being omnipresent in sera from COVID-19 patients, in ~50% of pre-pandemic human sera (rich in antibodies against endemic human coronaviruses), and even in feline coronavirus-infected cats. Pepscan analyses demonstrated that a confined N-terminal region of the FP is strongly immunogenic across diverse coronaviruses. Peptide-purified human antibodies targeting this conserved FP epitope exhibited broad binding of alpha- and betacoronaviruses, besides weak and transient SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing activity. Being frequently elicited by coronavirus infection, these FP-binding antibodies might potentially exhibit Fc-mediated effector functions and influence the kinetics or severity of coronavirus infection and disease.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Peptides
/
Coronavirus, Feline
/
Antibodies, Neutralizing
/
Pandemics
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Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
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SARS-CoV-2
/
COVID-19
/
Antibodies, Viral
/
Antigens, Viral
Limits:
Adult
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Animals
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Front Immunol
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Belgium