Characterization of a Novel ACE2-Based Therapeutic with Enhanced Rather than Reduced Activity against SARS-CoV-2 Variants

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Abstract

Mutational drift of SARS-CoV-2 risks rendering both therapeutics and vaccines less effective. Receptor decoy strategies utilizing soluble human ACE2 may overcome the risk of viral mutational escape since mutations disrupting viral interaction with the ACE2 decoy will by necessity decrease virulence, thereby preventing meaningful escape.

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  1. SciScore for 10.1101/2021.03.17.435802: (What is this?)

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

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    BlindingAnimal caretakers and pathology personnel were blinded for the treatment groups.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variableIn vivo hamster model: Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) RjHan:AURA strain, male and females 4-10 weeks old, were individually caged in a human biosafety level 3 laboratory.
    Cell Line Authenticationnot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Antibodies
    SentencesResources
    Monocyte isolation was determined with the following flow cytometry antibody panel after 10 min incubation with anti-human CD32 (StemCell – 18520): APC anti-human CD14 (Biolegend – 301808), PE-Cy7 anti-human CD3 (Biolegend – 344186), AF488 anti-human CD20 (Biolegend – 302316) and live/dead Sytox Blue stain (Invitrogen – S34857).
    anti-human CD32
    suggested: None
    anti-human CD14
    suggested: (BioLegend Cat# 348805, RRID:AB_2889063)
    anti-human CD3
    suggested: (BioLegend Cat# 348805, RRID:AB_2889063)
    anti-human CD20
    suggested: (BioLegend Cat# 302316, RRID:AB_493227)
    The following flow cytometry antibody panel was used to determine monocyte differentiation and M1 polarization after 10 min incubation with anti-human CD32: APC anti-human CD14 (Biolegend – 344186) BV421 anti-human CD80 (Biolegend – 305222), PE anti-human CCR7 (Biolegend 353204), APC/Fire750 anti-human CD209 (330116) and 7-AAD viability staining solution at 5 μl/1×106 cells.
    anti-human CD32: APC anti-human CD14
    suggested: None
    anti-human
    suggested: (BioLegend Cat# 305222, RRID:AB_2564407)
    anti-human CD80
    suggested: (BioLegend Cat# 305222, RRID:AB_2564407)
    anti-human CCR7
    suggested: (BioLegend Cat# 353204, RRID:AB_10913813)
    APC/Fire750 anti-human CD209
    suggested: None
    REGN-COV2 antibody cocktail was generated as a 1:1 mix of REGN10933 and REGN10987.
    REGN10987
    suggested: None
    Bound Fc-tagged proteins were detected with anti-human HRP-conjugated secondary antibodies (Jackson ImmunoResearch – 109-035-088) at 1:3000 dilution in PBS 0.5% BSA.
    anti-human HRP-conjugated secondary
    suggested: None
    Briefly, after incubation with kit’s ViraBind™ reagents and virus inactivation, samples were incubated in microwell plates precoated with anti-p24 antibodies followed by a subsequent incubation with secondary FITC-conjugated anti-HIV p24 monoclonal antibody (1:1000).
    anti-p24
    suggested: None
    anti-HIV
    suggested: None
    Subsequently, well were exposed to HRP-conjugated anti- FITC monoclonal antibody (1:1000).
    anti- FITC
    suggested: None
    Antibody-virus mixtures were then cultured with 3 x 104 HEK-293T cells previously genetically engineered to express human ACE2 and TMPRSS2, in the presence of 8 μg/mL of polybrene, in 48-well plates with a final volume of 0.5 mL per well.
    TMPRSS2
    suggested: None
    Plates were washed with 0.05% v/v PBS-Tween and sequentially incubated with mouse anti-SARS-CoV-2 N protein antibody (The Native Antigen Company – MAB12183-100) at 1:500 dilution and HRP-conjugated goat anti-mouse IgG antibody (Jackson ImmunoResearch – 115-035-146) at 1:5000 dilution in 3% w/v milk in 0.05%PBS-Tween.
    anti-SARS-CoV-2 N protein
    suggested: None
    anti-mouse IgG
    suggested: (DSHB Cat# LEP100 IgG, RRID:AB_528124)
    Experimental Models: Cell Lines
    SentencesResources
    Sup-T1 (ATCC – CRL-1942), U937 (ATCC – CRL-1593.2) and K562 (ATCC – CCL-243) were cultured in Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) 1640 medium (Gibco – 21875034) supplemented with 10% Foetal Calf Serum (FCS, Biosera – FB 1001/500) and 2 mM GlutaMAX™ (Gibco – 35050061) at 37°C with 5% CO2.
    U937
    suggested: ATCC Cat# CRL-1593, RRID:CVCL_0007)
    K562
    suggested: ATCC Cat# CCL-243, RRID:CVCL_0004)
    Sup-T1 cells were γ-retrovirally transduced to express the S glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan Hu-1 strain co-expressed with eBFP as a marker gene.
    Sup-T1
    suggested: BCRC Cat# 60191, RRID:CVCL_1714)
    Supernatant from transfected CHO cells was purified using 1 ml HiTrap MabSelect PrismA (GE Healthcare – 17549851) affinity chromatography with in-line dialysis in PBS via HiTrap 5 ml desalting columns (GE Healthcare – 29048684) using an Akta™ Pure system (GE Healthcare), following manufacturer’s recommendations.
    CHO
    suggested: None
    Binding capacity of ACE2(HH:NN) Fc, LALA Fc and LALA-PG Fc to SupT1 expressing wild-type SARS-CoV-2 full length spike was assessed via incubation of test protein at 45.6 nM with 2-fold serial dilutions for 30 mins at RT, followed by secondary incubation with anti-Human IgG (H+L) AF647 (Invitrogen – A21445) for 20 mins at RT in the dark.
    SupT1
    suggested: None
    Antibody-virus mixtures were then cultured with 3 x 104 HEK-293T cells previously genetically engineered to express human ACE2 and TMPRSS2, in the presence of 8 μg/mL of polybrene, in 48-well plates with a final volume of 0.5 mL per well.
    HEK-293T
    suggested: None
    SARS-CoV-2 virus neutralisation assay: Vero cells (ATC-CCL81) cultured in Dulbecco’s MEM (Sigma, Cat. No. D6546) with 10% FCS and 2 mM L-Glutamine (Sigma, Cat No. G7513) and 1% penicillin/streptomycin (Invitrogen cat no. 15140148) were seeded the day prior to infection at 2 x104 cells per well in 96-well flat bottom plate.
    Vero
    suggested: ATCC Cat# CCL-81, RRID:CVCL_0059)
    HEK293 cells were used for reverse transfection and expression.
    HEK293
    suggested: CLS Cat# 300192/p777_HEK293, RRID:CVCL_0045)
    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Data analysed with GraphPad Prism 8 (GraphPad software).
    GraphPad Prism
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)
    GraphPad
    suggested: (GraphPad Prism, RRID:SCR_002798)
    Stained samples were acquired using a MacsQuant10 instrument (Miltenyi Biotec) and analyzed on FlowJo software (BD).
    FlowJo
    suggested: (FlowJo, RRID:SCR_008520)
    Data analysed with Graph Prism 8 (GraphPad software).
    Graph Prism
    suggested: None
    Hit detected by fluorescent secondary antibody using ImageQuant software (GE Healthcare).
    ImageQuant
    suggested: (ImageQuant, RRID:SCR_014246)

    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.

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