SARS-CoV-2 proteome microarray for mapping COVID-19 antibody interactions at amino acid resolution

Abstract

COVID-19 has quickly become a worldwide pandemic, which has significantly impacted the economy, education, and social interactions. Understanding the humoral antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 proteins may help identify biomarkers that can be used to detect and treat COVID-19 infection. However, no immuno-proteomics platform exists that can perform such proteome-wide analysis. To address this need, we created a SARS-CoV-2 proteome microarray to analyze antibody interactions at amino acid resolution by spotting peptides 15 amino acids long with 5-amino acid offsets representing full-length SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Moreover, the array processing time is short (1.5 hours), the dynamic range is ~2 orders of magnitude, and the lowest limit of detection is 94 pg/mL. Here, the SARS-CoV-2 proteome array reveals that antibodies commercially available for SARS-CoV-1 proteins can also target SARS-CoV-2 proteins. These readily available reagents could be used immediately in COVID-19 research. Second, IgM and IgG immunogenic epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 proteins were profiled in the serum of ten COVID-19 patients. Such epitope biomarkers provide insight into the immune response to COVID-19 and are potential targets for COVID-19 diagnosis and vaccine development. Finally, serological antibodies that may neutralize viral entry into host cells via the ACE2 receptor were identified. Further investigation into whether these antibodies can inhibit the propagation of SARS-CoV-2 is warranted. Antibody and epitope profiling in response to COVID-19 is possible with our peptide-based SARS-COV-2 proteome microarray. The data gleaned from the array could provide invaluable information to the scientific community to understand, detect, and treat COVID-19.