Development of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Specific Monoclonal Antibodies

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Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive disruptions in every society around the world. To help fight COVID-19, new molecular tools specifically targeting critical components of the causative agent of COVID-19, SARS-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), are desperately needed. The SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein is a major component of the viral replication processes, integral to viral particle assembly, and is a major diagnostic marker for infection and immune protection. Currently available antibody reagents targeting the nucleocapsid protein were primarily developed against the related SARS-CoV virus and are not specific to SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein. Therefore, in this work we developed and characterized a series of new mouse monoclonal antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein. The anti-nucleocapsid monoclonal antibodies were tested in ELISA, western blot, and immunofluorescence analyses. The variable regions from the heavy and light chains from five select clones were cloned and sequenced, and preliminary epitope mapping of the sequenced clones was performed. Overall, the new antibody reagents described here will be of significant value in the fight against COVID-19.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.03.280370: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableTwo 6-week old female BALB/c mice (Jackson Laboratories) were primed with antigen emulsified in an equal volume of complete Freund’s adjuvant (Millipore-Sigma).
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    After three more washes the plates were incubated with HRP conjugated goat anti-mouse polyclonal antibodies (Abcam ab97023) diluted at 1:10,000 in 1X PBS for 1 hour at room temperature, shaking.
    anti-mouse polyclonal antibodies
    suggested: None
    Supernatant from parents 17, 21, 22, 57, and 67 along with rabbit anti-N protein polyclonal control antibody were then incubated for 1 hour shaking at room temperature and then washed three times with 1X PBS + 0.1% Tween 20.
    anti-N
    suggested: None
    FITC-conjugated goat anti-mouse secondary antibodies or Alexa 488-conjugated goat anti-rabbit secondary antibodies at a dilution of 1:2000 in 1X PBS were added to the appropriate wells, with all wells receiving Hoescht staining at 1:4000.
    anti-mouse
    suggested: None
    anti-rabbit
    suggested: None
    Blots were washed three time with blocking solution for five minutes each before being incubated for 1 hour at room temperature with goat anti-mouse HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies diluted in blocking solution.
    anti-mouse HRP-conjugated secondary
    suggested: None
    Sequencing of anti-N protein monoclonal antibody genes: RNA from each hybridomas 17, 21, 22, 57, and 67 was isolated and stored at −80°C following Trizol (Invitrogen) and phenol-chloroform extraction.
    anti-N protein
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Stocks of virus were grown in Vero-E6 cells in DMEM (Gibco) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Atlas Biologicals) and 25mM HEPES (pH 7.5) in BSL-3+ containment at the Colorado State University Regional Containment Biocontainment Laboratory
    Vero-E6
    suggested: None
    Vero cells were infected at 0.1 MOI with SARS-CoV-2 in BSL-3 and allowed to incubate for 48 hours before cells were trypsinized, spun down, and resuspended in RIPA buffer.
    Vero
    suggested: None
    Experimental Models: Organisms/Strains
    SentencesResources
    Two 6-week old female BALB/c mice (Jackson Laboratories) were primed with antigen emulsified in an equal volume of complete Freund’s adjuvant (Millipore-Sigma).
    BALB/c
    suggested: RRID:IMSR_ORNL:BALB/cRl)
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Absorbances were corrected against the PBS negative control and organized by absorbance on Microsoft Excel.
    Microsoft Excel
    suggested: (Microsoft Excel, RRID:SCR_016137)
    Five kappa and heavy chain clones were sequenced for each hybridoma by Genewiz.
    Genewiz
    suggested: (GENEWIZ, RRID:SCR_003177)
    Clone sequences were analyzed by IgBLAST (30) for antibody framework regions (FMR) and complementary-determining regions (CDR).
    IgBLAST
    suggested: (IgBLAST, RRID:SCR_002873)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).


    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.


    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.


    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.


    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.