A Global Collaborative Comparison of SARS-CoV-2 Antigenicity Across 15 Laboratories
Setting up a global SARS-CoV-2 surveillance system requires an understanding of how virus isolation and propagation practices, use of animal or human sera, and different neutralisation assay platforms influence assessment of SARS-CoV-2 antigenicity. In this study, with the contribution of 15 independent laboratories across all WHO regions, we carried out a controlled analysis of neutralisation assay platforms using the first WHO International Standard for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (source: NIBSC). Live virus isolates (source: WHO BioHub or individual labs) or spike plasmids (individual labs) for pseudovirus production were used to perform neutralisation assays using the same serum panels. When comparing fold drops, excellent data consistency was observed across the labs using common reagents, including between pseudovirus and live virus neutralisation assays (RMSD of data from mean fold drop was 0.59). Utilising a Bayesian model, geometric mean titres and assay titre magnitudes (offsets) can describe the data efficiently. Titre magnitudes were seen to vary largely even for labs within the same assay group. We have observed that overall, live Microneutralisation assays tend to have the lowest titres, whereas Pseudovirus Neutralisation have the highest (with a mean difference of 3.2 log2 units between the two). These findings are relevant for laboratory networks, such as the WHO Coronavirus Laboratory Network (CoViNet), that seek to support a global surveillance system for evolution and antigenic characterisation of variants to support monitoring of population immunity and vaccine composition policy.
Authors
- Anna Z. Mykytyn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7188-6871)
- Any Caroline Alves de Oliveira
- Bart L. Haagmans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6221-2015)
- Malik Peiris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8217-5995)
- Jane Cunningham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2758-4822)
- Samuel M. S. Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7293-2331)
- Annika Rössler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5298-0288)
- Amirtharaj Francis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6862-2875)
- John K. C. Li
- Irene Owusu Donkor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8523-955X)
- Christian Drosten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7923-0519)
- Isabella Eckerle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4850-7172)
- Derek J. Smith (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2393-1890)
- Marilda Mendonça Siqueira (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4685-9817)
- Giada Mattiuzzo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9475-1590)
- G. Tuba Barut (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3863-0775)
- Tandile Hermanus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4734-1980)
- Penny L. Moore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8719-4028)
- Luis Fernando López Tort (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9252-5135)
- Polina Brangel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9295-4842)
- Leo L. M. Poon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9101-7953)
- Mia Ferreira de Araújo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3428-7834)
- Ludwig Knabl (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8280-8991)
- Simone I. Richardson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7678-2609)
- Meriem Bekliz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3186-1877)
- Sina Türeli
- Melanie Schmitt
- Janine Kimpel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5210-7905)
- Isabel Hunger‐Glaser
- Taweewun Hunsawong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0330-6334)
- Kamonthip Rungrojcharoenkit (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9582-3939)
- Khadija Khan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7565-7400)
- Nicole Liechti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4354-2419)
- James Aboagye (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9266-460X)
- Thorsten Wolff (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7688-236X)
- Nadine Ebert (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7603-1864)
- Barbara Mühlemann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5314-8530)
- Matthias Budt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5960-515X)
- Olivier Engler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8404-1496)
- Alex Sigal (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8571-2004)
- Victor M. Corman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3605-0136)
- Ioana Ghiga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4583-5998)
- Jindarat Lohachanakul
- Daniel Zysset (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-0305-4848)
- Prudence Kgagudi
- Jinal N. Bhiman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6354-4003)
- Jean-Marc Gensch
- Lilin Lai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9528-6990)
- Bráulia Costa Caetano (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1373-8966)
- Volker Thiel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5783-0887)
- Maria D. Van Kerkhove (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6135-0018)
- Lorenzo Subissi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5147-575X)
- Carol Crowther (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0287-7004)
- Tarteel Hassan
- Mehul S. Suthar
- Prince Adom Nartey
Institutions
- National Health Laboratory Service (ZA)
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- University of Geneva (CH)
- University of Bern (CH)
- University of Ghana (GH)
- Innsbruck Medical University (AT)
- Emory University (US)
- Universidad de la República de Uruguay (UY)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Robert Koch Institute (DE)
- Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (ZA)
- Spiez Laboratory (CH)
- Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (AE)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (GH)
- World Health Organization (CH)
- University Hospital of Geneva (CH)
- Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science (TH)
- German Center for Infection Research (DE)
- Africa Health Research Institute (ZA)
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (BR)
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (DE)
- University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Erasmus University Rotterdam (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Viruses
- Published
- 2024-12-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/v16121936
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.17
Funders
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- National Health Laboratory Service
- Medical Research Council