Summary The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a major global public health concern. Although rapid point-of-care testing for detecting viral antigen is important for management of the outbreak, the current antigen tests are less sensitive than nucleic acid testing. In our current study, we produce monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that exclusively react with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and exhibit no cross-reactivity with other human coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV. Molecular modeling suggests that the mAbs bind to epitopes present on the exterior surface of the nucleocapsid, making them suitable for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in clinical samples. We further select the optimal pair of anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein (NP) mAbs using ELISA and then use this mAb pair to develop immunochromatographic assay augmented with silver amplification technology. Our mAbs recognize the variants of concern (501Y.V1-V3) that are currently in circulation. Because of their high performance, the mAbs of this study can serve as good candidates for developing antigen detection kits for COVID-19. Graphical abstract Highlights The monoclonal antibodies of this study have distinct epitopes to detect SARS-CoV-2 They exhibit no cross-reactivity with other viruses, including SARS-CoV These antibodies accurately detect the major SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern Coupling rapid antigen test with silver amplification enhances the test performance In this study, Yamaoka et al. report their highly specific, epitope-characterized monoclonal antibodies that exclusively detect SARS-CoV-2. These monoclonal antibodies, when used in a lateral flow immunoassay coupled with silver amplification, enhance the performance of rapid antigen detection tests for COVID-19.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, monoclonal antibody, point-of-care testing, nucleoprotein, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, viruses, coronavirus, pandemic, antibody, SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2 variant, variants of concern, monoclonal antibodies, anti-SARS-CoV-2, ELISA, nucleocapsid protein, Antigen, cross-reactivity, point-of-care, amplification, lateral flow immunoassay, clinical samples, nucleic acid, outbreak, nucleocapsid, management, circulation, immunochromatographic assay, epitope, antigen detection, human coronaviruses, mAbs, mAb, Viral antigen, acute respiratory syndrome, Abstract, global public health, candidate, coupling, ENhance, detect, develop, less, recognize, exterior, 【제목키워드】 Protein, epitope, antigen detection, SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid,