The aim of this study is to understand adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 through the analysis of B cell epitope and neutralizing activity in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. We obtained serum from forty-three COVID-19 patients from patients in the intensive care unit of Osaka University Hospital (n = 12) and in Osaka City Juso Hospital (n = 31). Most individuals revealed neutralizing activity against SARS-CoV-2 assessed by a pseudotype virus-neutralizing assay. The antibody production against the spike glycoprotein (S protein) or receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 was elevated, with large individual differences, as assessed by ELISA. We observed the correlation between neutralizing antibody titer and IgG, but not IgM, antibody titer of COVID-19 patients. In the analysis of the predicted the linear B cell epitopes, hot spots in the N-terminal domain of the S protein were observed in the serum from patients in the intensive care unit of Osaka University Hospital. Overall, the analysis of antibody production and B cell epitopes of the S protein from patient serum may provide a novel target for the vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2.
【저자키워드】 immunology, Infection, 【초록키워드】 COVID-19, coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, IgG, IgM, Adaptive immunity, Coronavirus disease 2019, Vaccine development, adaptive, intensive care, Immunity, S protein, spike glycoprotein, intensive care unit, ELISA, B cell, serum, Epitopes, Neutralizing activity, Receptor-binding domain, RBD, pseudotype, Patient, Antibody titer, correlation, epitope, university, patients, COVID-19 patients, Neutralizing antibody titer, N-terminal domain, Analysis, Individual differences, B cell epitopes, B cell epitope, COVID-19 patient, antibody production, hot spots, linear B, city, individual, domain, pseudotype virus, MOST, predicted, elevated, linear, the S protein, virus-neutralizing, the vaccine, 【제목키워드】 B cell, Humoral immunity, Analysis, COVID-19 infected individual,