1.
Neutralizing Activity to SARS-CoV-2 of Convalescent and Control Plasma Used in a Randomized Controlled Trial
Freedenberg, A. T., Pan, C. H., Diehl, W. E., Romeiser, J. L., Hwang, G. R., Leiton, C. V., Muecksch, F., Shroyer, K. R., Bennett-Guerrero, E.
Transfusion. 2021
-
-
Free full text
-
Abstract
BACKGROUND There are limited data on the neutralizing activity of convalescent plasma (CP) administered in randomized controlled trials (RCT) of COVID-19 infection. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS As part of an RCT, CP was collected per FDA guidelines from individuals recovered from COVID-19 infection. CP donors had to have ≥145 optical density (OD) units (ideal target ≥300) using a semi quantitative, immunochromatographic test for IgG antibody to the nucleocapsid protein (NP) of SARS-CoV-2 (typical range 0-500 OD units). A random subset of samples [14 control plasma, 12 CP "medium-anti-NP" (145-299 OD units), and 13 CP "high" anti-NP (≥300 OD units)] were tested for neutralizing antibodies using an established viral luciferase antibody inhibition assay to detect the infection of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus that encoded spike protein (SARS2-S(trunc) ) on a human immunodeficiency virus 1 vector (NL43dEnvNanoLuc), using ACE2-expressing 293T cells. The titer needed to neutralize 50% of viral activity (NT50) was calculated. RESULTS The uptake of SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus by 293T(ACE2) cells was inhibited by pretreatment with CP compared to control CP (p<0.001) with control plasma having a median (IQR) 50% neutralization titer (NT50) of 1:28 (1:16,1:36) compared to 1:334 (1:130,1:1295) and 1:324 (1:244,1:578), for medium anti-NP and high anti-NP CP units, respectively. The neutralizing activity of CP met minimum FDA criteria with neutralizing antibody titers >1:80 in 100% of randomly selected samples, using a conservative approach that excluded non-specific binding. DISCUSSION Plasma from donors screened using an immunochromatographic test for IgG antibody to SARS-CoV-2 NP exhibited neutralizing activity meeting FDA's minimum standard in all randomly selected COVID-19 CP units. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.