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Liang L, Wang B, Zhang Q, Zhang S, Zhang S. Antibody drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2: Time for a rethink? Biomed Pharmacother 2024; 176:116900. [PMID: 38861858 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2024] [Revised: 04/20/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/13/2024] Open
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) heavily burdens human health. Multiple neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) have been issued for emergency use or tested for treating infected patients in the clinic. However, SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) carrying mutations reduce the effectiveness of nAbs by preventing neutralization. Uncoding the mutation profile and immune evasion mechanism of SARS-CoV-2 can improve the outcome of Ab-mediated therapies. In this review, we first outline the development status of anti-SARS-CoV-2 Ab drugs and provide an overview of SARS-CoV-2 variants and their prevalence. We next focus on the failure causes of anti-SARS-CoV-2 Ab drugs and rethink the design strategy for developing new Ab drugs against COVID-19. This review provides updated information for the development of therapeutic Ab drugs against SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Likeng Liang
- Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Bo Wang
- Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
| | - Qing Zhang
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Tianjin 300060, China
| | - Shiwu Zhang
- Department of Pathology, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Nankai University, Tianjin 300121, China
| | - Sihe Zhang
- Department of Cell Biology, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China.
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2
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Cui L, Li T, Xue W, Zhang S, Wang H, Liu H, Gu Y, Xia N, Li S. Comprehensive Overview of Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 Variants. Viruses 2024; 16:900. [PMID: 38932192 PMCID: PMC11209230 DOI: 10.3390/v16060900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Currently, SARS-CoV-2 has evolved into various variants, including the numerous highly mutated Omicron sub-lineages, significantly increasing immune evasion ability. The development raises concerns about the possibly diminished effectiveness of available vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics. Here, we describe those representative categories of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) that retain prominent effectiveness against emerging variants including Omicron sub-lineages. The molecular characteristics, epitope conservation, and resistance mechanisms of these antibodies are further detailed, aiming to offer suggestion or direction for the development of therapeutic antibodies, and facilitate the design of vaccines with broad-spectrum potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lingyan Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Tingting Li
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Wenhui Xue
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Sibo Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Hong Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Hongjing Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Ying Gu
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Ningshao Xia
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
| | - Shaowei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Vaccines for Infectious Diseases, Xiang An Biomedicine Laboratory, School of Public Health, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China (N.X.)
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Vaccinology and Molecular Diagnostics, Collaborative Innovation Center of Biologic Products, National Innovation Platform for Industry-Education Integration in Vaccine Research, The Research Unit of Frontier Technology of Structural Vaccinology of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Diagnostics and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
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3
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Chen Y, Zha J, Xu S, Shao J, Liu X, Li D, Zhang X. Structure-Based Optimization of One Neutralizing Antibody against SARS-CoV-2 Variants Bearing the L452R Mutation. Viruses 2024; 16:566. [PMID: 38675908 PMCID: PMC11053997 DOI: 10.3390/v16040566] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2024] [Accepted: 04/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) play an important role against SARS-CoV-2 infections. Previously, we have reported one potent receptor binding domain (RBD)-binding nAb Ab08 against the SARS-CoV-2 prototype and a panel of variants, but Ab08 showed much less efficacy against the variants harboring the L452R mutation. To overcome the antibody escape caused by the L452R mutation, we generated several structure-based Ab08 derivatives. One derivative, Ab08-K99E, displayed the mostly enhanced neutralizing potency against the Delta pseudovirus bearing the L452R mutation compared to the Ab08 and other derivatives. Ab08-K99E also showed improved neutralizing effects against the prototype, Omicron BA.1, and Omicron BA.4/5 pseudoviruses. In addition, compared to the original Ab08, Ab08-K99E exhibited high binding properties and affinities to the RBDs of the prototype, Delta, and Omicron BA.4/5 variants. Altogether, our findings report an optimized nAb, Ab08-K99E, against SARS-CoV-2 variants and demonstrate structure-based optimization as an effective way for antibody development against pathogens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yamin Chen
- Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China; (Y.C.); (X.L.)
- Key Laboratory of Immune Response and Immunotherapy, Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; (S.X.); (J.S.)
| | - Jialu Zha
- CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China;
| | - Shiqi Xu
- Key Laboratory of Immune Response and Immunotherapy, Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; (S.X.); (J.S.)
- The CAS Key Laboratory of Receptor Research and State Key Laboratory of Drug Research, Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China
| | - Jiang Shao
- Key Laboratory of Immune Response and Immunotherapy, Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; (S.X.); (J.S.)
| | - Xiaoshan Liu
- Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China; (Y.C.); (X.L.)
- Key Laboratory of Immune Response and Immunotherapy, Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; (S.X.); (J.S.)
| | - Dianfan Li
- CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Cell Science, Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China;
| | - Xiaoming Zhang
- Suzhou Medical College, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China; (Y.C.); (X.L.)
- Key Laboratory of Immune Response and Immunotherapy, Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200031, China; (S.X.); (J.S.)
- Shanghai Sci-Tech Inno Center for Infection & Immunity, Shanghai 200052, China
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4
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Treewattanawong W, Sitthiyotha T, Chunsrivirot S. Computational redesign of Beta-27 Fab with substantially better predicted binding affinity to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant than human ACE2 receptor. Sci Rep 2023; 13:15476. [PMID: 37726329 PMCID: PMC10509195 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-42442-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2022] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023] Open
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 has caused large numbers of morbidity and mortality, and the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) was an important variant of concern. To enter human cells, the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the S1 subunit of SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2-RBD) binds to the peptidase domain (PD) of Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor. Disrupting the binding interactions between SARS-CoV-2-RBD and ACE2-PD using neutralizing antibodies is an effective COVID-19 therapeutic solution. Previous study found that Beta-27 Fab, which was obtained by digesting the full IgG antibodies that were isolated from a patient infected with SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant, can neutralize Victoria, Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Gamma (P.1), and Delta (B.1.617.2) variants. This study employed computational protein design and molecular dynamics (MD) to investigate and enhance the binding affinity of Beta-27 Fab to SARS-CoV-2-RBD Omicron variant. MD results show that five best designed Beta-27 Fabs (Beta-27-D01 Fab, Beta-27-D03 Fab, Beta-27-D06 Fab, Beta-27-D09 Fab and Beta-27-D10 Fab) were predicted to bind to Omicron RBD in the area, where ACE2 binds, with significantly better binding affinities than Beta-27 Fab and ACE2. Their enhanced binding affinities are mostly caused by increased binding interactions of CDR L2 and L3. They are promising candidates that could potentially be employed to disrupt the binding between ACE2 and Omicron RBD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wantanee Treewattanawong
- Structural and Computational Biology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Thassanai Sitthiyotha
- Structural and Computational Biology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Surasak Chunsrivirot
- Structural and Computational Biology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
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5
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High-Affinity Antibodies Designing of SARS-CoV-2 Based on Molecular Dynamics Simulations. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 24:ijms24010481. [PMID: 36613923 PMCID: PMC9820416 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24010481] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2022] [Revised: 12/22/2022] [Accepted: 12/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 has led to a global pandemic of new crown pneumonia, which has had a tremendous impact on human society. Antibody drug therapy is one of the most effective way of combating SARS-CoV-2. In order to design potential antibody drugs with high affinity, we used antibody S309 from patients with SARS-CoV as the target antibody and RBD of S protein as the target antigen. Systems with RBD glycosylated and non-glycosylated were constructed to study the influence of glycosylation. From the results of molecular dynamics simulations, the steric effects of glycans on the surface of RBD plays a role of "wedge", which makes the L335-E340 region of RBD close to the CDR3 region of the heavy chain of antibody and increases the contact area between antigen and antibody. By mutating the key residues of antibody at the interaction interface, we found that the binding affinities of antibody mutants G103A, P28W and Y100W were all stronger than that of the wild-type, especially for the G103A mutant. G103A significantly reduces the distance between the binding region of L335-K356 in the antigen and P28-Y32 of heavy chain in the antibody through structural transition. Taken together, the antibody design method described in this work can provide theoretical guidance and a time-saving method for antibody drug design.
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6
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Effect of Recombinant Antibodies and MIP Nanoparticles on the Electrical Behavior of Impedimetric Biorecognition Surfaces for SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein: A Short Report. ELECTROCHEM 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/electrochem3030037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Electrochemical immunosensors are often described as innovative strategies to tackle urgent epidemiological needs, such as the detection of SARS-CoV-2 main biomarker, the spike glycoprotein. Nevertheless, there is a great variety of receptors, especially recombinant antibodies, that can be used to develop these biosensing platforms, and very few reports compare their suitability in analytical device design and their sensing performances. Therefore, this short report targeted a brief and straightforward investigation of the performance of different impedimetric biorecognition surfaces (BioS) for SARS-CoV-2, which were crafted from three commonly reported recombinant antibodies and molecularly-imprinted polymer (MIP) nanoparticles (nanoMIP). The selected NanoMIP were chosen due to their reported selectivity to the receptor binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein. Results showed that the surface modification protocol based on MUDA and crosslinking with EDC/NHS was successful for the anchoring of each tested receptor, as the semicircle diameter of the Nyquist plots of EIS increased upon each modification, which suggests the increase of Rct due to the binding of dielectric materials on the conductive surface. Furthermore, the type of monoclonal antibody used to craft the BioS and the artificial receptors led to very distinct responses, being the RBD5305 and the NanoMIP-based BioS the ones that showcased the highest increment of signal in the conditions herein reported, which suggests their adequacy in the development of impedimetric immunosensors for SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein.
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7
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Zhou W, Xu C, Luo M, Wang P, Xu Z, Xue G, Jin X, Huang Y, Li Y, Nie H, Jiang Q, Anashkina AA. MutCov: A pipeline for evaluating the effect of mutations in spike protein on infectivity and antigenicity of SARS-CoV-2. Comput Biol Med 2022; 145:105509. [PMID: 35421792 PMCID: PMC8993498 DOI: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2022.105509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing an outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is a major threat to public health worldwide. Previous studies have shown that the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 determines viral infectivity and major antigenicity. However, the spike protein has been undergoing various mutations, which bring a great challenge to the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Here we present the MutCov, a pipeline for evaluating the effect of mutations in spike protein on infectivity and antigenicity of SARS-CoV-2 by calculating the binding free energy between spike protein and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) or neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb). The predicted infectivity and antigenicity were highly consistent with biologically experimental results, and demonstrated that the MutCov achieved good prediction performance. In conclusion, the MutCov is of high importance for systematically evaluating the effect of novel mutations and improving the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. The source code and installation instruction of MutCov are freely available at http://jianglab.org.cn/MutCov.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenyang Zhou
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Chang Xu
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Meng Luo
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Pingping Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Zhaochun Xu
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Guangfu Xue
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Xiyun Jin
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Yan Huang
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Yiqun Li
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Huan Nie
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China
| | - Qinghua Jiang
- School of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150000, China,Corresponding author
| | - Anastasia A. Anashkina
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,Corresponding author
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8
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Martínez L, Malaina I, Salcines-Cuevas D, Terán-Navarro H, Zeoli A, Alonso S, M De la Fuente I, Gonzalez-Lopez E, Ocejo-Vinyals JG, Gozalo-Margüello M, Calvo-Montes J, Alvarez-Dominguez C. First computational design using lambda-superstrings and in vivo validation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6410. [PMID: 35440789 PMCID: PMC9016385 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-09615-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the greatest threat to global health at the present time, and considerable public and private effort is being devoted to fighting this recently emerged disease. Despite the undoubted advances in the development of vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of COVID-19, uncertainty remains about their future efficacy and the duration of the immunity induced. It is therefore prudent to continue designing and testing vaccines against this pathogen. In this article we computationally designed two candidate vaccines, one monopeptide and one multipeptide, using a technique involving optimizing lambda-superstrings, which was introduced and developed by our research group. We tested the monopeptide vaccine, thus establishing a proof of concept for the validity of the technique. We synthesized a peptide of 22 amino acids in length, corresponding to one of the candidate vaccines, and prepared a dendritic cell (DC) vaccine vector loaded with the 22 amino acids SARS-CoV-2 peptide (positions 50-71) contained in the NTD domain (DC-CoVPSA) of the Spike protein. Next, we tested the immunogenicity, the type of immune response elicited, and the cytokine profile induced by the vaccine, using a non-related bacterial peptide as negative control. Our results indicated that the CoVPSA peptide of the Spike protein elicits noticeable immunogenicity in vivo using a DC vaccine vector and remarkable cellular and humoral immune responses. This DC vaccine vector loaded with the NTD peptide of the Spike protein elicited a predominant Th1-Th17 cytokine profile, indicative of an effective anti-viral response. Finally, we performed a proof of concept experiment in humans that included the following groups: asymptomatic non-active COVID-19 patients, vaccinated volunteers, and control donors that tested negative for SARS-CoV-2. The positive control was the current receptor binding domain epitope of COVID-19 RNA-vaccines. We successfully developed a vaccine candidate technique involving optimizing lambda-superstrings and provided proof of concept in human subjects. We conclude that it is a valid method to decipher the best epitopes of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 to prepare peptide-based vaccines for different vector platforms, including DC vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luis Martínez
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, 48940, Leioa, Spain. .,BCAM, Basque Center for Applied Mathematics, 48009, Bilbao, Spain.
| | - Iker Malaina
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, 48940, Leioa, Spain.,BioCruces Health Research Institute, Cruces University Hospital, 48903, Barakaldo, Spain
| | | | - Héctor Terán-Navarro
- Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), 39011, Santander, Spain
| | - Andrea Zeoli
- Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), 39011, Santander, Spain
| | - Santos Alonso
- Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, 48940, Leioa, Spain.,María Goyri Building. Animal Biotechnology Center, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, 48940, Leioa, Spain
| | - Ildefonso M De la Fuente
- Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, 48940, Leioa, Spain.,Department of Nutrition, CEBAS-CSIC Institute, Espinardo University Campus, 30100, Murcia, Spain
| | - Elena Gonzalez-Lopez
- Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, 39008, Santander, Spain
| | - J Gonzalo Ocejo-Vinyals
- Servicio de Inmunología, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, 39008, Santander, Spain
| | - Mónica Gozalo-Margüello
- Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, 39008, Santander, Spain
| | - Jorge Calvo-Montes
- Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), 39011, Santander, Spain.,Servicio de Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla, 39008, Santander, Spain.,CIBER Enfermedades Infecciosas, ISCIII, Madrid, Spain
| | - Carmen Alvarez-Dominguez
- Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla (IDIVAL), 39011, Santander, Spain. .,Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, 26006, Logroño, Spain.
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9
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Treewattanawong W, Sitthiyotha T, Chunsrivirot S. Computational redesign of Fab CC12.3 with substantially better predicted binding affinity to SARS-CoV-2 than human ACE2 receptor. Sci Rep 2021; 11:22202. [PMID: 34772947 PMCID: PMC8590000 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-00684-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is responsible for COVID-19 pandemic, causing large numbers of cases and deaths. It initiates entry into human cells by binding to the peptidase domain of angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptor via its receptor binding domain of S1 subunit of spike protein (SARS-CoV-2-RBD). Employing neutralizing antibodies to prevent binding between SARS-CoV-2-RBD and ACE2 is an effective COVID-19 therapeutic solution. Previous studies found that CC12.3 is a highly potent neutralizing antibody that was isolated from a SARS-CoV-2 infected patient, and its Fab fragment (Fab CC12.3) bound to SARS-CoV-2-RBD with comparable binding affinity to ACE2. To enhance its binding affinity, we employed computational protein design to redesign all CDRs of Fab CC12.3 and molecular dynamics (MD) to validate their predicted binding affinities by the MM-GBSA method. MD results show that the predicted binding affinities of the three best designed Fabs CC12.3 (CC12.3-D02, CC12.3-D05, and CC12.3-D08) are better than those of Fab CC12.3 and ACE2. Additionally, our results suggest that enhanced binding affinities of CC12.3-D02, CC12.3-D05, and CC12.3-D08 are caused by increased SARS-CoV-2-RBD binding interactions of CDRs L1 and L3. This study redesigned neutralizing antibodies with better predicted binding affinities to SARS-CoV-2-RBD than Fab CC12.3 and ACE2. They are promising candidates as neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wantanee Treewattanawong
- Structural and Computational Biology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Thassanai Sitthiyotha
- Structural and Computational Biology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
| | - Surasak Chunsrivirot
- Structural and Computational Biology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Pathumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand.
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