Cloning and expression of human monoclonal antibody with potent binding to 2019 novel coronavirus
Keywords:
Coronavirus, Monoclonal antibody, COVID-19, CR3022, SARS-CoV-2Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Currently, there is no vaccine or specific medication to prevent and treatment of the infection. Human monoclonal antibody (mAb) CR3022 has been shown to specifically bind to SARS-CoV and cross react to SARS-CoV-2 with high affinity. We therefore construct and produce mAb CR3022 by cloning and expression in mammalian cell line. Immunoglobulin genes coding for mAb CR3022 were synthesized and cloned into human IgG1 Fc expression vector, then transfected into HEK293 cells. The expressed mAb CR3022 was harvested and purified. The obtained yield of purified mAb CR3022 was 16.5 mg/L of culture. The purified mAb CR3022 could bind to recombinant SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD with an affinity constant of 24.6 nM as determined by biolayer interferometry (BLI) binding assays. These indicated that the mAb CR3022 has the potential to be developed as diagnostic and therapeutic agents.
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