Measuring SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody activity using pseudotyped and chimeric viruses

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and the ensuing explosive epidemic of COVID-19 disease has generated a need for assays to rapidly and conveniently measure the antiviral activity of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. Here, we describe a collection of approaches based on SARS-CoV-2 spike-pseudotyped, single-cycle, replication-defective human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1), and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), as well as a replication-competent VSV/SARS-CoV-2 chimeric virus. While each surrogate virus exhibited subtle differences in the sensitivity with which neutralizing activity was detected, the neutralizing activity of both convalescent plasma and human monoclonal antibodies measured using each virus…

• HH
  Howard Hughes Medical Institute
• GH
  G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Charitable Foundation
• GM
  George Mason University
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: R37AI64003, R01AI091707-10S1, P01AI138398-S1, R01AI078788, UL1 TR001866, 2U19AI111825
• NC
  National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences