ABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by SARS-CoV-2, varies with regard to symptoms and mortality rates among populations. Humoral immunity plays critical roles in SARS-CoV-2 infection and recovery from COVID-19. However, differences in immune responses and clinical features among COVID-19 patients remain largely unknown. Here, we report a database for COVID-19-specific IgG/IgM immune responses and clinical parameters (named COVID-ONE-hi). COVID-ONE-hi is based on the data that contain the IgG/IgM responses to 24 full-length/truncated proteins corresponding to 20 of 28 known SARS-CoV-2 proteins and 199 spike protein peptides against 2360 serum samples collected from 783 COVID-19 patients. In addition, 96 clinical parameters for the 2360 serum samples and basic information for the 783 patients are integrated into the database. Furthermore, COVID-ONE-hi provides a dashboard for defining samples and a one-click analysis pipeline for a single group or paired groups. A set of samples of interest is easily defined by adjusting the scale bars of a variety of parameters. After the "START" button is clicked, one can readily obtain a comprehensive analysis report for further interpretation. COVID-ONE-hi is freely available at www.COVID-ONE.cn.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Antibodies, Viral , Humans , Immunity, Humoral , Immunoglobulin G , Immunoglobulin M , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
The immunogenicity of the SARS-CoV-2 proteome is largely unknown, especially for non-structural proteins and accessory proteins. In this study, we collect 2,360 COVID-19 sera and 601 control sera. We analyze these sera on a protein microarray with 20 proteins of SARS-CoV-2, building an antibody response landscape for immunoglobulin (Ig)G and IgM. Non-structural proteins and accessory proteins NSP1, NSP7, NSP8, RdRp, ORF3b, and ORF9b elicit prevalent IgG responses. The IgG patterns and dynamics of non-structural/accessory proteins are different from those of the S and N proteins. The IgG responses against these six proteins are associated with disease severity and clinical outcome, and they decline sharply about 20 days after symptom onset. In non-survivors, a sharp decrease of IgG antibodies against S1 and N proteins before death is observed. The global antibody responses to non-structural/accessory proteins revealed here may facilitate a deeper understanding of SARS-CoV-2 immunology.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/immunology , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/immunology , Viral Nonstructural Proteins/immunology , Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins/immunology , Adult , Aged , Antibodies, Viral/immunology , Antibody Formation , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/immunology , Immunoglobulin M/immunology , Male , Middle Aged , Protein Array AnalysisABSTRACT
To fully decipher the immunogenicity of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Spike protein, it is essential to assess which part is highly immunogenic in a systematic way. We generate a linear epitope landscape of the Spike protein by analyzing the serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) response of 1,051 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients with a peptide microarray. We reveal two regions rich in linear epitopes, i.e., C-terminal domain (CTD) and a region close to the S2' cleavage site and fusion peptide. Unexpectedly, we find that the receptor binding domain (RBD) lacks linear epitope. We reveal that the number of responsive peptides is highly variable among patients and correlates with disease severity. Some peptides are moderately associated with severity and clinical outcome. By immunizing mice, we obtain linear-epitope-specific antibodies; however, no significant neutralizing activity against the authentic virus is observed for these antibodies. This landscape will facilitate our understanding of SARS-CoV-2-specific humoral responses and might be useful for vaccine refinement.
Subject(s)
COVID-19/immunology , SARS-CoV-2/immunology , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/immunology , Adult , Animals , Antibodies, Monoclonal/immunology , Antibodies, Neutralizing/immunology , Antibodies, Viral/immunology , Antigens, Viral/immunology , COVID-19/epidemiology , COVID-19/genetics , China/epidemiology , Disease Models, Animal , Epitope Mapping/methods , Epitopes/immunology , Female , Humans , Immunoglobulin G/immunology , Male , Mice , Mice, Inbred BALB C , SARS-CoV-2/genetics , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/genetics , Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus/metabolismABSTRACT
Serological tests play an essential role in monitoring and combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Recombinant spike protein (S protein), especially the S1 protein, is one of the major reagents used for serological tests. However, the high cost of S protein production and possible cross-reactivity with other human coronaviruses pose unavoidable challenges. By taking advantage of a peptide microarray with full spike protein coverage, we analyzed 2,434 sera from 858 COVID-19 patients, 63 asymptomatic patients and 610 controls collected from multiple clinical centers. Based on the results, we identified several S protein-derived 12-mer peptides that have high diagnostic performance. In particular, for monitoring the IgG response, one peptide (aa 1148-1159 or S2-78) exhibited a sensitivity (95.5%, 95% CI 93.7-96.9%) and specificity (96.7%, 95% CI 94.8-98.0%) comparable to those of the S1 protein for the detection of both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. Furthermore, the diagnostic performance of the S2-78 (aa 1148-1159) IgG was successfully validated by ELISA in an independent sample cohort. A panel of four peptides, S1-93 (aa 553-564), S1-97 (aa 577-588), S1-101 (aa 601-612) and S1-105 (aa 625-636), that likely will avoid potential cross-reactivity with sera from patients infected by other coronaviruses was constructed. The peptides identified in this study may be applied independently or in combination with the S1 protein for accurate, affordable, and accessible COVID-19 diagnosis.