De Marco Verissimo, Carolina 
ORCID: 0000-0003-1762-6387, O'Brien, Carol ORCID: 0000-0002-0828-5376, López Corrales, Jesús ORCID: 0000-0003-2996-7904, Dorey, Amber, Cwiklinski, Krystyna ORCID: 0000-0001-5577-2735, Lalor, Richard ORCID: 0000-0003-0433-9805, Doyle, Jack M, Field, Stephen, Masterson, Claire ORCID: 0000-0002-9863-5324, Ribes Martinez, Eduardo et al (show 8 more authors)
(2021)
Improved diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 by using nucleoprotein and spike protein fragment 2 in quantitative dual ELISA tests.
Epidemiology and infection, 149.
e140-.
Abstract
The novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), is the causative agent of the 2020 worldwide coronavirus pandemic. Antibody testing is useful for diagnosing historic infections of a disease in a population. These tests are also a helpful epidemiological tool for predicting how the virus spreads in a community, relating antibody levels to immunity and for assessing herd immunity. In the present study, SARS-CoV-2 viral proteins were recombinantly produced and used to analyse serum from individuals previously exposed, or not, to SARS-CoV-2. The nucleocapsid (Npro) and spike subunit 2 (S2Frag) proteins were identified as highly immunogenic, although responses to the former were generally greater. These two proteins were used to develop two quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) that when used in combination resulted in a highly reliable diagnostic test. Npro and S2Frag-ELISAs could detect at least 10% more true positive coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) cases than the commercially available ARCHITECT test (Abbott). Moreover, our quantitative ELISAs also show that specific antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 proteins tend to wane rapidly even in patients who had developed severe disease. As antibody tests complement COVID-19 diagnosis and determine population-level surveillance during this pandemic, the alternative diagnostic we present in this study could play a role in controlling the spread of the virus.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Humans, Immunoglobulin G, Phosphoproteins, Recombinant Proteins, Antibodies, Viral, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Sensitivity and Specificity, Kinetics, Adult, Aged, Middle Aged, Female, Male, Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 Serological Testing, Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Feb 2022 09:32 |
| Last Modified: | 14 Mar 2024 17:46 |
| DOI: | 10.1017/s0950268821001308 |
| Open Access URL: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiolo... |
| Related URLs: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3149573 |
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