Increasing sensitivity of antibody-antigen interactions using photo-cross-linking

Understanding antibody-antigen interactions in a polyclonal immune response in humans and animal models is critical for rational vaccine design. Current approaches typically characterize antibodies that are functionally relevant or highly abundant. Here, we use photo-cross-linking and single-particle electron microscopy to increase antibody detection and unveil epitopes of low-affinity and low-abundance antibodies, leading to a broader structural characterization of polyclonal immune responses. We employed this approach across three different viral glycoproteins and showed increased sensitivity of detection relative to currently used methods. Results were most noticeable in early and late time points of a polyclonal immune response. Additionally, the use of photo-cross-linking revealed intermediate antibody binding states and demonstrated a distinctive way to study antibody binding mechanisms. This technique can be used to structurally characterize the landscape of a polyclonal immune response of patients in vaccination or post-infection studies at early time points, allowing for rapid iterative design of vaccine immunogens.