Cross-neutralization of distant coronaviruses correlates with Spike S2-specific antibodies from immunocompetent and immunocompromised vaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected patients

Res Sq [Preprint]. 2024 Dec 5:rs.3.rs-5487774. doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5487774/v1.

Abstract

As of May 2023, the public health emergency of COVID-19 was lifted across the globe. However, SARS-CoV-2 infections continue to be recorded worldwide. This situation has been attributed to the ability of the virus to evade host immune responses including neutralizing antibody-derived Immunity. The vast majority of antibody escape mutations have been associated with the S1 subunit of the spike protein, especially the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) but also the N-terminal Domain (NTD). The other region of the spike, the S2 subunit, is the most conserved region amongst coronaviruses. We hypothesized that S2-specific antibody responses are suboptimal in vaccinated and SARS-CoV-2 infected patients resulting in an ineffective neutralization of distant coronaviruses. Here, we analyzed S2-specific antibody responses SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals, including a mixed cohort of those with and without immunosuppression and prior vaccination. We found that S2-specific antibody responses are generally lower than S1-specific antibody responses. Furthermore, we observed in immunocompetent individuals that S1 and S2-specific antibody responses are both positively correlated with Wuhan, Omicron, SARS-CoV and W1V1-CoV pseudovirus neutralization. Among the immunocompromised patients, S1-specific antibody responses were rarely correlated with pseudovirus neutralization in contrast to S2-specific antibody responses which frequently correlated with pseudovirus neutralization. These data highlight the potential of the S2-subunit as an ideal target for induction of cross-neutralizing antibody immunity against divergent coronaviruses.

Publication types

  • Preprint

Grants and funding

This study was supported by a funding from Boston College fund (Ignite) to IBF through the Office of the Vice-Provost for Research, a funding from the National Institutes of Health (U19 AI110818 and R01 AI176287), the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness SARS-CoV-2 Variants Program, and the Massachusetts General Hospital Department of Medicine. The funders had no role in the design of the study; collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data; writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The contents of this article are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the funding sources.