Lectin Fingerprinting Distinguishes Antibody Neutralization in SARS-CoV‑2

Authors:

Wuo, Michael G.; Dugan, Amanda E.; Halim, Melanie; Hauser, Blake M.; Feldman, Jared; Caradonna, Timothy M.; Zhang, Shuting; Pepi, Lauren E.; Atyeo, Caroline; Fischinger, Stephanie; Alter, Galit; Garcia-Beltran, Wilfredo F.; Azadi, Parastoo; Hung, Deb; Schmidt, Aaron G.; Kiessling, Laura L.

Affiliation:

Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States

The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States

Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, United States

Description:

Enveloped viruses co-opt host glycosylation pathways to decorate their surface proteins. As viruses evolve, emerging strains can modify their glycosylation patterns to influence host interactions and subvert immune recognition. Still, changes in viral glycosylation or their impact on antibody protection cannot be predicted from genomic sequences alone. Using the highly glycosylated SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein as a model system, we present a lectin fingerprinting method that rapidly reports on changes in variant glycosylation state, which are linked to antibody neutralization. In the presence of antibodies or convalescent and vaccinated patient sera, unique lectin fingerprints emerge that distinguish neutralizing versus non-neutralizing antibodies. This information could not be inferred from direct binding interactions between antibodies and the Spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) binding data alone. Comparative glycoproteomics of the Spike RBD of wild-type (Wuhan-Hu-1) and Delta (B.1.617.2) variants reveal O-glycosylation differences as a key determinant of immune recognition differences. These data underscore the interplay between viral glycosylation and immune recognition and reveal lectin fingerprinting to be a rapid, sensitive, and high-throughput assay to distinguish the neutralization potential of antibodies that target critical viral glycoproteins.

Publications:

  • Wuo, Michael G.; Dugan, Amanda E.; Halim, Melanie; Hauser, Blake M.; Feldman, Jared; Caradonna, Timothy M.; Zhang, Shuting; Pepi, Lauren E.; Atyeo, Caroline; Fischinger, Stephanie; Alter, Galit; Garcia-Beltran, Wilfredo F.; Azadi, Parastoo; Hung, Deb; Schmidt, Aaron G.; Kiessling, Laura L.; Lectin Fingerprinting Distinguishes Antibody Neutralization in SARS-CoV‑2; ACS Central Science, 2023
  • Tags:

    Immunology
    Oligosaccharides

    Related Projects:

    No related projects available


    Files:

    File Name File Description File Type File Size File URL
    Supporting Information I Materials and methods including detailed experimental procedures about protein production, ELLAs, neutralization assays, hierarchal clustering analysis, and comparative glycoproteomics (MS) analysis; detailed reagent information including antibodies, lectins, and sera used in these studies; additional figures showing plant and fungal monosaccharide specificity, schematics for ELLA and competitive ELLA assays, additional lectin binding data to Spike and RBD under varying treatment conditions, and lectin binding to commercial antibodies (PDF) pdf 2.24 MB Login to download
    Supporting Information II Tables sourcing the lectins used and vaccinated patient metadata (ZIP) zip 162.35 KB Login to download