1
|
Geanes ES, LeMaster C, Fraley ER, Khanal S, McLennan R, Grundberg E, Selvarangan R, Bradley T. Cross-reactive antibodies elicited to conserved epitopes on SARS-CoV-2 spike protein after infection and vaccination. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6496. [PMID: 35444221 PMCID: PMC9019795 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10230-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2021] [Accepted: 04/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2 is a novel betacoronavirus that caused coronavirus disease 2019 and has resulted in millions of deaths worldwide. Novel coronavirus infections in humans have steadily become more common. Understanding antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2, and identifying conserved, cross-reactive epitopes among coronavirus strains could inform the design of vaccines and therapeutics with broad application. Here, we determined that individuals with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccinated with the Pfizer-BioNTech BNT162b2 vaccine produced antibody responses that cross-reacted with related betacoronaviruses. Moreover, we designed a peptide-conjugate vaccine with a conserved SARS-CoV-2 S2 spike epitope, immunized mice and determined cross-reactive antibody binding to SARS-CoV-2 and other related coronaviruses. This conserved spike epitope also shared sequence homology to proteins in commensal gut microbiota and could prime immune responses in humans. Thus, SARS-CoV-2 conserved epitopes elicit cross-reactive immune responses to both related coronaviruses and host bacteria that could serve as future targets for broad coronavirus therapeutics and vaccines.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eric S Geanes
- Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Cas LeMaster
- Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Elizabeth R Fraley
- Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Santosh Khanal
- Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Rebecca McLennan
- Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Elin Grundberg
- Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri- Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, MO, USA.,Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA
| | - Rangaraj Selvarangan
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri- Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA.,Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Children's Mercy, Kansas City, MO, USA
| | - Todd Bradley
- Genomic Medicine Center, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Kansas City, MO, USA. .,Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri- Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, USA. .,Department of Pediatrics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, MO, USA. .,Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA.
| |
Collapse
|