Effective screening of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies in patient serum using lentivirus particles pseudotyped with SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein

Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 5;10(1):19076. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-76135-w.

Abstract

Pseuodotyped particles have significant importance and use in virology as tools for studying the biology of highly pathogenic viruses in a lower biosafety environment. The biological, chemical, and serological studies of the recently emerged SARS-CoV-2 will be greatly aided by the development and optimization of a suitable pseudotyping system. Here, we pseudotyped the SARS-CoV-2 Spike glycoprotein (SPG) on a traditional retroviral (MMLV) as well as a third generation lentiviral (pLV) vector and tested the transduction efficiency in several mammalian cell lines expressing SARS-CoV-2 receptor hACE2. While MMLV pseudotyped the vesicular stomatitis virus G glycoprotein (VSV-G) efficiently, it could not pseudotype the full-length SPG. In contrast, pLV pseudotyped both glycoproteins efficiently; however, much higher titers of pLV-G particles were produced. Among all the tested mammalian cells, 293Ts expressing hACE2 were most efficiently transduced using the pLV-S system. The pLV-S particles were efficiently neutralized by diluted serum (>:640) from recently recovered COVID-19 patients who showed high SARS-CoV-2 specific IgM and IgG levels. In summary, pLV-S pseudotyped virus provides a valid screening tool for the presence of anti SARS-CoV-2 specific neutralizing antibodies in convalescent patient serum.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / blood*
  • Antibodies, Neutralizing / immunology
  • Antibodies, Viral / blood*
  • Antibodies, Viral / immunology
  • Betacoronavirus / immunology*
  • Cell Line
  • Genetic Vectors / genetics
  • Humans
  • Lentivirus / genetics*
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Serologic Tests / methods*
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics*
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / immunology*
  • Transduction, Genetic

Substances

  • Antibodies, Neutralizing
  • Antibodies, Viral
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
  • spike protein, SARS-CoV-2