Dromedary camel nanobodies broadly neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants

  1. Jessica Hong
  2. Hyung Joon Kwon
  3. Raul Cachau
  4. Catherine Z. Chen
  5. Kevin John Butay
  6. Zhijian Duan
  7. Dan Li
  8. Hua Ren
  9. Tianyuzhou Liang
  10. Jianghai Zhu
  11. Venkata P. Dandey
  12. Negin P. Martin
  13. Dominic Esposito
  14. Uriel Ortega-Rodriguez
  15. Miao Xu
  16. Mario J. Borgnia
  17. Hang Xie
  18. Mitchell Ho

Reviewed by

Read the full article See related articles

Listed in

Log in to save this article

Abstract

Due to their small size, nanobodies can recognize protein cavities that are not accessible to conventional antibodies. In this report, we built dromedary camel ( Camelus dromedarius ) V H H phage libraries for the isolation of high-affinity nanobodies that broadly neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants. Cryo-EM complex structures reveal that one dromedary camel V H H nanobody (8A2) binds the S1 subunit of the viral spike protein, and the other (7A3) targets a deeply buried region that uniquely extends to the S2 subunit beyond the S1 subunit. These nanobodies can protect mice from the lethal challenge of variants B.1.351 or B.1.617.2, suggesting the therapeutic potential of these nanobodies against COVID-19. The dromedary camel V H H libraries could be helpful to isolate neutralizing nanobodies against future emerging viruses quickly.

Article activity feed

  1. Version published to 10.1073/pnas.2201433119
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.10.27.465996: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Ethicsnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    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.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    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.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2021.10.27.465996 on bioRxiv