Abstract
A novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is the source of a current pandemic (COVID-19) with devastating consequences in public health and economic stability. Using a peptide array to map the antibody response of plasma from healing patients (12) and heathy patients (6), we identified three immunodominant linear epitopes, two of which correspond to key proteolytic sites on the spike protein (S1/S2 and S2') known to be critical for cellular entry. We show biochemical evidence that plasma positive for the epitope adjacent to the S1/S2 cleavage site inhibits furin-mediated proteolysis of spike.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Antibodies, Viral / blood
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Antibodies, Viral / immunology
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Betacoronavirus / immunology
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Betacoronavirus / isolation & purification
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COVID-19
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Coronavirus Infections / pathology*
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Coronavirus Infections / virology
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Epitope Mapping
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Epitopes / blood
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Epitopes / chemistry*
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Epitopes / immunology
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Furin / metabolism
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Humans
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Pandemics
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Peptide Nucleic Acids / chemistry
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Peptides / chemistry
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Pneumonia, Viral / pathology*
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Pneumonia, Viral / virology
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Protein Array Analysis
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Protein Structure, Tertiary
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Proteolysis
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Recombinant Proteins / biosynthesis
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Recombinant Proteins / chemistry
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Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
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SARS-CoV-2
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Sequence Alignment
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Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / chemistry
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Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / genetics
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Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / metabolism
Substances
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Antibodies, Viral
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Epitopes
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Peptide Nucleic Acids
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Peptides
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Recombinant Proteins
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Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
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spike protein, SARS-CoV-2
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Furin
Grants and funding
The work was funded by research funds from the University of Geneva and the département d’instruction public (DIP) du canton de Genève.