Hyperimmunized Chickens Produce Neutralizing Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

Emily J Aston; Michael G Wallach; Aarthi Narayanan; Sofia Egaña-Labrin; Rodrigo A Gallardo

doi:10.3390/v14071510

Hyperimmunized Chickens Produce Neutralizing Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2

Viruses. 2022 Jul 9;14(7):1510. doi: 10.3390/v14071510.

Authors

Emily J Aston¹, Michael G Wallach², Aarthi Narayanan³, Sofia Egaña-Labrin⁴, Rodrigo A Gallardo⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Animal Science, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
² School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
³ National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA.
⁴ Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.

Abstract

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, is responsible for the global COVID-19 pandemic. Effective interventions are urgently needed to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 and likely require multiple strategies. Egg-extracted antibody therapies are a low-cost and scalable strategy to protect at-risk individuals from SARS-CoV-2 infection. Commercial laying hens were hyperimmunized against the SARS-CoV-2 S1 protein using three different S1 recombinant proteins and three different doses. Sera and egg yolk were collected at three and six weeks after the second immunization for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and plaque-reduction neutralization assay to determine antigen-specific antibody titers and neutralizing antibody titers, respectively. In this study we demonstrate that hens hyperimmunized against the SARS-CoV-2 recombinant S1 and receptor binding domain (RBD) proteins produced neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. We further demonstrate that antibody production was dependent on the dose and type of antigen administered. Our data suggests that antibodies purified from the egg yolk of hyperimmunized hens can be used as immunoprophylaxis in humans at risk of exposure to SARS-CoV-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; antibodies; chicken; egg; neutralizing antibodies; passive immunization.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Antibodies, Neutralizing* / biosynthesis
Antibodies, Viral* / biosynthesis
COVID-19 / prevention & control
Chickens
Egg Yolk* / immunology
Female
SARS-CoV-2*
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus

Substances

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

Grants and funding

Funding for the experiments were obtained from a collaborative research agreement between the University of California, School of Veterinary Medicine and SPARK at Stanford, Stanford University, School of Medicine. Agreement number: 62366195.