Broad and potent activity against SARS-like viruses by an engineered human monoclonal antibody

The recurrent zoonotic spillover of coronaviruses (CoVs) into the human population underscores the need for broadly active countermeasures. We employed a directed evolution approach to engineer three severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies for enhanced neutralization breadth and potency. One of the affinity-matured variants, ADG-2, displays strong binding activity to a large panel of sarbecovirus receptor binding domains and neutralizes representative epidemic sarbecoviruses with high potency. Structural and biochemical studies demonstrate that ADG-2 employs a distinct angle of approach to recognize a highly conserved epitope that overlaps the receptor binding site. In immunocompetent mouse models of SARS and COVID-19, prophylactic administration of ADG-2 provided complete protection against respiratory burden, viral replication in the lungs, and lung pathology. Altogether, ADG-2 represents a promising broad-spectrum therapeutic candidate against clade 1 sarbecoviruses.

Source: ScienceNOW - February 18, 2021 Category: Science Authors: Rappazzo, C. G., Tse, L. V., Kaku, C. I., Wrapp, D., Sakharkar, M., Huang, D., Deveau, L. M., Yockachonis, T. J., Herbert, A. S., Battles, M. B., OBrien, C. M., Brown, M. E., Geoghegan, J. C., Belk, J., Peng, L., Yang, L., Hou, Y., Scobey, T. D., Burton, Tags: Immunology, Microbiology r-articles Source Type: news