Clinical assay for detecting SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies.
SARS-CoV-2 is currently causing a devastating pandemic and there is a pressing need to understand the dynamics, specificity, and neutralizing potency of the immune response during acute infection. COVID-19 serological tests are used to assess immunity and predict patient outcomes; however, many of the existing tests suffer from high error.
The SARS-CoV-2 receptor binding domain (RBD) interacts with the ACE2 receptor to infect cells. RBD-specific IgG antibody responses are rapidly induced during severe and moderate acute COVID-19 infection, with most patients showing RBD-specific antibody responses by 6 days post-PCR confirmation. Researchers have developed and validated a sensitive and selective RBD-based clinical assay that correlates with viral neutralization.
Validated with retrospective clinical samples.
Publication: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.03.20084442v1.full-text