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Updated: Nov 11, 2025

Author Spotlight: Advancing Antiviral Strategies Through Novel Immunocapture and Mass Spectrometry Techniques
Published on: January 12, 2024
Memory B cell repertoire for recognition of evolving SARS-CoV-2 spike
Pei Tong1, Avneesh Gautam1, Ian Windsor2
1Department of Medicine, Division of Allergy and Immunology, Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Memory B cell reserves can generate protective antibodies against repeated SARS-CoV-2 infections, but with an unknown reach from original infection to antigenically drifted variants. We charted memory B cell receptor-encoded monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from 19 COVID-19 convalescent subjects against SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) and found 7 major mAb competition groups against epitopes recurrently targeted across individuals. Inclusion of published and newly determined structures of mAb-S complexes identified corresponding epitopic regions. Group assignment correlated with cross-CoV-reactivity breadth, neutralization potency, and convergent antibody signatures. mAbs that competed for binding the original S isolate bound differentially to S variants, suggesting the protective importance of otherwise-redundant recognition. The results furnish a global atlas of the S-specific memory B cell repertoire and illustrate properties conferring robustness against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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