Dataset Information

Linear epitope landscape of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein constructed from 1,051 COVID-19 patients.

ABSTRACT: To fully decipher the immunogenicity of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Spike protein, it is essential to assess which part is highly immunogenic in a systematic way. We generate a linear epitope landscape of the Spike protein by analyzing the serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) response of 1,051 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with a peptide microarray. We reveal two regions rich in linear epitopes, i.e., C-terminal domain (CTD) and a region close to the S2' cleavage site and fusion peptide. Unexpectedly, we find that the receptor binding domain (RBD) lacks linear epitope. We reveal that the number of responsive peptides is highly variable among patients and correlates with disease severity. Some peptides are moderately associated with severity and clinical outcome. By immunizing mice, we obtain linear-epitope-specific antibodies; however, no significant neutralizing activity against the authentic virus is observed for these antibodies. This landscape will facilitate our understanding of SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral responses and might be useful for vaccine refinement.

SUBMITTER: Li Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7953450 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Linear epitope landscape of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein constructed from 1,051 COVID-19 patients.

Li Yang Y Ma Ming-Liang ML Lei Qing Q Wang Feng F Hong Wei W Lai Dan-Yun DY Hou Hongyan H Xu Zhao-Wei ZW Zhang Bo B Chen Hong H Yu Caizheng C Xue Jun-Biao JB Zheng Yun-Xiao YX Wang Xue-Ning XN Jiang He-Wei HW Zhang Hai-Nan HN Qi Huan H Guo Shu-Juan SJ Zhang Yandi Y Lin Xiaosong X Yao Zongjie Z Wu Jiaoxiang J Sheng Huiming H Zhang Yanan Y Wei Hongping H Sun Ziyong Z Fan Xionglin X Tao Sheng-Ce SC

Cell reports 20210312 13

To fully decipher the immunogenicity of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Spike protein, it is essential to assess which part is highly immunogenic in a systematic way. We generate a linear epitope landscape of the Spike protein by analyzing the serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) response of 1,051 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with a peptide microarray. We reveal two regions rich in linear epitopes, i.e., C-terminal domain (CTD) and a region close to the S ...[more]

PMID: 33761319

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Project description:The prompt rollout of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) mRNA vaccine is facilitating population immunity, which is becoming more dominant than natural infection-mediated immunity. In the midst of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine deployment, understanding the epitope profiles of vaccine-elicited antibodies will be the first step in assessing the functionality of vaccine-induced immunity. In this study, the high-resolution linear epitope profiles of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine recipients and COVID-19 patients were delineated by using microarrays mapped with overlapping peptides of the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The vaccine-induced antibodies targeting the RBD had a broader distribution across the RBD than that induced by the natural infection. Half-maximal neutralization titers were measured in vitro by live virus neutralization assays. As a result, relatively lower neutralizability was observed in vaccine recipient sera, when normalized to a total anti-RBD IgG titer. However, mutation panel assays targeting the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern have shown that the vaccine-induced epitope variety, rich in breadth, may grant resistance against future viral evolutionary escapes, serving as an advantage of vaccine-induced immunity. IMPORTANCE Establishing vaccine-based population immunity has been the key factor in attaining herd protection. Thanks to expedited worldwide research efforts, the potency of mRNA vaccines against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is now incontestable. The next debate is regarding the coverage of SARS-CoV-2 variants. In the midst of vaccine deployment, it is of importance to describe the similarities and differences between the immune responses of COVID-19 vaccine recipients and naturally infected individuals. In this study, we demonstrated that the antibody profiles of vaccine recipients are richer in variety, targeting a key protein of the invading virus, than those of naturally infected individuals. Vaccine-elicited antibodies included more nonneutralizing antibodies than infection-elicited antibodies, and their breadth in antibody variations suggested possible resilience against future SARS-CoV-2 variants. The antibody profile achieved by vaccinations in naive individuals provides important insight into the first step toward vaccine-based population immunity.

Project description:BackgroundSerological test is helpful in confirming and tracking infectious diseases in large population with the advantage of fast and convenience. Using the specific epitope peptides identified from the whole antigen as the detection antigen is sensitive and relatively economical. The development of epitope peptide-based detection kits for COVID-19 patients requires comprehensive information about epitope peptides. But the data on B cell epitope of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is still limited. More importantly, there is a lack of serological data on the peptides in the population. In this study, we aimed to identify the B cell epitope peptides of spike protein and detect the reactivity in serum samples, for further providing data support for their subsequent serological applications.ResultsTwo B cell linear epitopes, P104 and P82, located in non-RBD region of SARS-CoV-2 S protein were identified by indirect ELISA screening of an overlapping peptide library of the S protein with COVID-19 patients' convalescent serum. And the peptides were verified by testing with 165 serum samples. P104 has not been reported previously; P82 is contained in peptide S21P2 reported before. The positive reaction rates of epitope peptides S14P5 and S21P2, the two non-RBD region epitopes identified by Poh et al., and P82 and P104 were 77.0%, 73.9%, 61.2% and 30.3%, respectively, for 165 convalescent sera, including 30 asymptomatic patients. Although P104 had the lowest positive rate for total patients (30.3%), it exhibited slight advantage for detection of asymptomatic infections (36.7%). Combination of epitopes significantly improved the positive reaction rate. Among all combination patterns, (S14P5 + S21P2 + P104) pattern exhibited the highest positive reaction rate for all patients (92.7%), as well as for asymptomatic infections (86.7%), confirming the feasibility of P104 as supplementary antigen for serological detection. In addition, we analyzed the correlation between epitopes with neutralizing antibody, but only S14P5 had a medium positive correlation with neutralizing antibody titre (rs = 0.510, P < 0.01).ConclusionOur research proved that epitopes on non-RBD region are of value in serological detection especially when combination more than one epitope, thus providing serological reaction information about the four epitopes, which has valuable references for their usage.

Dataset Information

Linear epitope landscape of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein constructed from 1,051 COVID-19 patients.

Publications

Linear epitope landscape of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein constructed from 1,051 COVID-19 patients.

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