Status and Developing Strategies for Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Therapy in the Omicron Era of COVID-19

Zuning Ren; Chenguang Shen; Jie Peng

doi:10.3390/v15061297

Status and Developing Strategies for Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibody Therapy in the Omicron Era of COVID-19

Viruses. 2023 May 31;15(6):1297. doi: 10.3390/v15061297.

Authors

Zuning Ren^{1

2}, Chenguang Shen², Jie Peng¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Organ Failure Research, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Viral Hepatitis Research, Department of Infectious Diseases, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.
² BSL-3 Laboratory (Guangdong), Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Tropical Disease Research, School of Public Health, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China.

Abstract

The monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based treatment is a highly valued therapy against COVID-19, especially for individuals who may not have strong immune responses to the vaccine. However, with the arrival of the Omicron variant and its evolving subvariants, along with the occurrence of remarkable resistance of these SARS-CoV-2 variants to the neutralizing antibodies, mAbs are facing tough challenges. Future strategies for developing mAbs with improved resistance to viral evasion will involve optimizing the targeting epitopes on SARS-CoV-2, enhancing the affinity and potency of mAbs, exploring the use of non-neutralizing antibodies that bind to conserved epitopes on the S protein, as well as optimizing immunization regimens. These approaches can improve the viability of mAb therapy in the fight against the evolving threat of the coronavirus.

Keywords: COVID-19; Omicron variant; SARS-CoV-2; monoclonal antibody.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Antibodies, Monoclonal / therapeutic use
Antibodies, Neutralizing / therapeutic use
Antibodies, Viral / therapeutic use
COVID-19* / therapy
Epitopes
Humans
SARS-CoV-2
Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus

Substances

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

Supplementary concepts

SARS-CoV-2 variants

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFC2304800) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81971949).