Evaluation of spike protein antigens for SARS-CoV-2 serology

Jagtap, S and K, R and Valloly, P and Sharma, R and Maurya, S and Gaigore, A and Ardhya, C and Biligi, DS and Desiraju, BK and Natchu, UCM and Saini, DK and Roy, R (2021) Evaluation of spike protein antigens for SARS-CoV-2 serology. In: Journal of Virological Methods, 296 .

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Abstract

Background: Spike protein domains are being used in various serology-based assays to detect prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, there has been limited comparison of antibody titers against various spike protein antigens among COVID-19 infected patients. Methods: We compared four spike proteins (RBD, S1, S2 and a stabilized spike trimer (ST)) representing commonly used antigens for their reactivity to human IgG antibodies using indirect ELISA in serum from COVID-19 patients and pre-2020 samples. ST ELISA was also compared against the EUROIMMUN IgG ELISA test. Further, we estimated time appropriate IgG and IgA seropositivity rates in COVID-19 patients using a panel of sera samples collected longitudinally from the day of onset of symptoms (DOS). Results: Among the four spike antigens tested, the ST demonstrated the highest sensitivity (86.2 ; 95 CI: 77.8�91.7 ), while all four antigens showed high specificity to COVID-19 sera (94.7�96.8 ). 13.8 (13/94) of the samples did not show seroconversion in any of the four antigen-based assays. In a double-blinded head-to-head comparison, ST based IgG ELISA displayed a better sensitivity (87.5 , 95 CI: 76.4�93.8 ) than the EUROIMMUN IgG ELISA (67.9 , 95 CI: 54.8�78.6 ). Further, in ST-based assays, we found 48 and 50 seroconversion in the first six days (from DOS) for IgG and IgA antibodies, respectively, which increased to 84 (IgG) and 85 (IgA) for samples collected �22 days from DOS. Conclusions: Comparison of spike antigens demonstrates that spike trimer protein is a superior option as an ELISA antigen for COVID-19 serology. © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	Journal of Virological Methods
Publisher:	Elsevier B.V.
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to Authors
Department/Centre:	Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences > Centre for Biosystems Science and Engineering Division of Mechanical Sciences > Chemical Engineering
Date Deposited:	09 Dec 2021 09:29
Last Modified:	09 Dec 2021 09:29
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/69585

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