Cell Reports: A Global Collaboration for Systematic Analysis of Broad-ranging Antibodies Against the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

CELL REPORTS VOLUME 44| ISSUE 4 | 22 APR 2025

Sharon L. Schendel,¹ Xiaoying Yu,^1,²⁰ Peter J. Halfmann,^2,²⁰ Jarjapu Mahita,^1,²⁰ Brendan Ha,¹ Kathryn M. Hastie,¹Haoyang Li,¹ Daniel Bedinger,³ Camille Troup,³ Kan Li,⁴ Natalia Kuzmina,^5,6Jordi B. Torrelles,^7,8 Jennifer E. Munt,⁹ Melissa Mattocks,⁹ Mary Osei-Twum,¹⁰ Heather M. Callaway,^1,21 The CoVIC-DB Team¹ Stephen Reece,¹¹ Anne Palser,¹² Paul Kellam,^12,13 S. Moses Dennison,⁴ Richard H.C. Huntwork,⁴ Gillian Q. Horn,⁴Milite Abraha,⁴ Elizabeth Feeney,⁴ Luis Martinez-Sobrido,^7,8 Paula A. Pino,⁷Amberlee Hicks,⁷ Chengjin Ye,^7,8 Jun-Gyu Park,⁷ Billie Maingot,⁷ Sivakumar Periasamy,⁶ Michael Mallory,⁹ Trevor Scobey,⁹ Marie-Noelle Lepage,¹⁰ Natalie St-Amant,¹⁰ Sarwat Khan,¹⁰ Anais Gambiez,¹ Coronavirus Immunotherapeutic Consortium, Ralph S. Baric,^8,14 Alexander Bukreyev,^5,6,15 Luc Gagnon,¹⁰ Timothy Germann,³ Yoshihiro Kawaoka,^2,16,17,18 Georgia D. Tomaras,⁴ Bjoern Peters,^1,19,*and Erica Ollmann Saphire^1,19,22,*

Highlights

Features of nearly 400 anti-SARS-CoV-2-spike antibodies were analyzed side by side
Consortia data are in a publicly accessible database that adheres to FAIR principles
High-resolution epitope binning defined spike epitope communities with functional importance
Regression analysis defines a framework for rapid responses to future disease outbreaks

Summary

The Coronavirus Immunotherapeutic Consortium (CoVIC) conducted side-by-side comparisons of over 400 anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike therapeutic antibody candidates contributed by large and small companies as well as academic groups on multiple continents. Nine reference labs analyzed antibody features, including in vivo protection in a mouse model of infection, spike protein affinity, high-resolution epitope binning, ACE-2 binding blockage, structures, and neutralization of pseudovirus and authentic virus infection, to build a publicly accessible dataset in the database CoVIC-DB. High-throughput, high-resolution binning of CoVIC antibodies defines a broad and predictive landscape of antibody epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and identifies features associated with durable potency against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and high in vivo efficacy. Results of the CoVIC studies provide a guide for selecting effective and durable antibody therapeutics and for immunogen design as well as providing a framework for rapid response to future viral disease outbreaks.

Read the Paper