Plant-based monoclonal antibody increases potency of antibody cocktail against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant

By Dr. Priyom Bose, Ph.D.Nov 22 2022Reviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc. The rapid spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has resulted in the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Background Prophylactic and therapeutic monoclonal antibodies play an important role in protecting vulnerable groups from acquiring COVID-19. For example, vaccination does not effectively protect immunocompromised individuals from contracting SARS-CoV-2 infection, as they may not develop substantial and durable immunity post-vaccination.

Among the classes, Class 1 and 2 mAbs, which interact with the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 binding site of the RBD, have greater neutralizing ability. It is important to characterize mAbs in these classes, as it helps in the development of effective mAb cocktails that reduce immune evasion. Plants are promising systems to produce recombinant proteins. One previous clinical study demonstrated that a newly formulated plant-based COVID-19 vaccine was safe and highly effective in preventing infection. Since then, this vaccine has received approval for human use in Canada.

Study findings The expression of chimeric 11D7 in ΔXFT Nicotiana benthamiana plants peaked within one week of agroinfiltration to around 131 µg of p11D7 per gram of fresh leaf weight . Although the level of 11D7 mAb produced in the plant system was promising, it was lower than mAbs produced in other optimized geminiviral vectors.

This value was comparable to other neutralizing mAbs against SARS-CoV-2, such as CA1 and CB6 that are produced in plants. Nevertheless, the 50% inhibitory concentration of p11D7 for neutralization of the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain was significantly higher than other plant-based mAbs at 25.37 µg/mL.

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