Monoclonal neutralizing antibodies against SARS-COV-2 S protein.

Novel coronavirus pneumonia, also known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is caused by sub-severe acute respiratory syndrome type 2 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection. The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2 binds to angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors widely expressed on the surface of human cells leading to life-threatening respiratory infections. A serious hazard to human health is posed by the lack of particular treatment medications for this virus infection. We advocate the creation of high-affinity antibodies using the receptor binding domain (RBD) of S protein as a specific antigenic epitope to develop a drug that can precisely target therapy COVID-19 because SARS-CoV-2 infection of the host cells is dependent on S protein binding to ACE2. Finally, we obtained high-affinity antibodies 14F4HL and 14E3HL that have high affinity with RBD and well-drug-forming properties, suitable for further humanization studies. Thus, monoclonal antibodies that neutralize the S protein were identified in our study, which may provide new insights for the development of COVID-19 therapeutic drugs.