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Updated: Sep 23, 2025
In Vitro Selection of Aptamers to Differentiate Infectious from Non-Infectious Viruses
Published on: September 7, 2022
Spherical neutralizing aptamer suppresses SARS-CoV-2 Omicron escape.
Miao Sun1, Zijing Wu1, Jialu Zhang1
1The MOE Key Laboratory of Spectrochemical Analysis and Instrumentation, State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
A novel spherical cocktail neutralizing aptamer-gold nanoparticle (SNAP) effectively neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 Omicron by blocking its interaction with host cells. This aptamer strategy overcomes immune evasion and offers potential for future variant treatments.
Area of Science:
- Biotechnology
- Virology
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- The SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant exhibits significant immune evasion, reducing the efficacy of existing neutralizing antibodies.
- Mutations in Omicron's receptor-binding domain (RBD) challenge humoral immune responses.
- There is a critical need for new therapeutic strategies against rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel neutralizing agent capable of blocking Omicron variant infection.
- To investigate the efficacy of a spherical cocktail neutralizing aptamer-gold nanoparticle (SNAP) conjugate.
- To address the challenge of humoral immune evasion posed by Omicron's clustered mutations.
Main Methods:
- Application of a spherical cocktail neutralizing aptamer-gold nanoparticle (SNAP) conjugate.
- Blocking the interaction between the Omicron RBD and the host ACE2 receptor.
- Utilizing a synergetic blocking strategy involving multivalent aptamer binding and gold scaffold steric hindrance.
Main Results:
- The SNAP conjugate demonstrated tight binding to Omicron RBD with a dissociation constant (Kd) of 13.6 pM.
- SNAP almost completely blocked Omicron pseudovirus infection with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 35.9 pM.
- The multivalent and steric hindrance approach effectively countered Omicron's immune evasion.
Conclusions:
- The SNAP strategy successfully overcomes the humoral immune evasion of the Omicron variant.
- This approach provides a promising clue for developing broad-neutralizing reagents against future SARS-CoV-2 variants.
- SNAP represents a potential therapeutic avenue for combating current and emerging viral threats.
