Novel super-neutralizing antibody UT28K is capable of protecting against infection from a wide variety of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Novel super-neutralizing antibody UT28K is capable of protecting against infection from a wide variety of SARS-CoV-2 variants.

mAbs (2022-05-12)

Tatsuhiko Ozawa, Hideki Tani, Yuki Anraku, Shunsuke Kita, Emiko Igarashi, Yumiko Saga, Noriko Inasaki, Hitoshi Kawasuji, Hiroshi Yamada, So-Ichiro Sasaki, Mayu Somekawa, Jiei Sasaki, Yoshihiro Hayakawa, Yoshihiro Yamamoto, Yoshitomo Morinaga, Nobuyuki Kurosawa, Masaharu Isobe, Hideo Fukuhara, Katsumi Maenaka, Takao Hashiguchi, Hiroyuki Kishi, Isao Kitajima, Shigeru Saito, Hideki Niimi

PMID35543180

RESUMEN

Many potent neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 antibodies have been developed and used for therapies. However, the effectiveness of many antibodies has been reduced against recently emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, especially the Omicron variant. We identified a highly potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody, UT28K, in COVID-19 convalescent individuals who recovered from a severe condition. UT28K showed efficacy in neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 in an in vitro assay and in vivo prophylactic treatment, and the reactivity to the Omicron strain was reduced. The structural analyses revealed that antibody UT28K Fab and SARS-CoV-2 RBD protein interactions were mainly chain-dominated antigen-antibody interactions. In addition, a mutation analysis suggested that the emergence of a UT28K neutralization-resistant SARS-CoV-2 variant was unlikely, as this variant would likely lose its competitive advantage over circulating SARS-CoV-2. Our data suggest that UT28K offers potent protection against SARS-CoV-2, including newly emerging variants.