The interaction of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus causing the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the human immune system is the focus of intensive research. The ability of antibodies to target SARS-CoV-2, particularly the spike protein essential for viral entry into cells, may help determine disease susceptibility and progression in patients.

Leveraging expertise developed from his extensive work with HIV, Jackson Laboratory (JAX) Professor Derya Unutmaz, M.D., led an effort to develop an assay that determines how well anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies are able to neutralize binding with ACE-2, the human receptor for the virus. Using a non-infectious pseudo-virus with the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein on the external membrane, the assay does not require a BSL-3-level biosecurity facility, yet detects the presence of neutralizing antibodies with extremely high sensitivity and specificity. In a pre-print posted on medRxiv, Unutmaz shows that the assay is able to detect neutralizing antibody in patient plasma even at high dilutions, up to a million-fold. Read more