Christoph Kreer, Matthias Zehner, Timm Weber, M. Ercanoglu, L. Gieselmann, C. Rohde, S. Halwe, M. Korenkov, P. Schommers, K. Vanshylla, V. Di Cristanziano, H. Janicki, R. Brinker, A. Ashurov, V. Krähling, A. Kupke, H. Cohen-Dvashi, M. Koch, Jan Mathis Eckert, Simone Lederer, N. Pfeifer, T. Wolf, M. Vehreschild, C. Wendtner, R. Diskin, H. Gruell, S. Becker, F. Klein
Cell, 2020
Summary The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has unprecedented implications for public health, social life, and the world economy. Because approved drugs and vaccines are not available, new options for COVID-19 treatment and prevention are in high demand. To identify SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies, we analyzed the antibody response of 12 COVID-19 patients from 8 to 69 days after diagnosis. By screening 4,313 SARS-CoV-2-reactive B cells, we isolated 255 antibodies from different time points as early as 8 days after diagnosis. Of these, 28 potently neutralized authentic SARS-CoV-2 (IC100 as low as 0.04 μg/mL), showing a broad spectrum of variable (V) genes and low levels of somatic mutations. Interestingly, potential precursors were identified in naive B cell repertoires from 48 healthy individuals who 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 hope for rapid induction of a protective immune response upon vaccination.
Cited by 87 publications.
Field of study: Biology