Thread by @veeslerlab

We discovered a neutralizing mouse monoclonal antibody (B6) targeting the coronavirus spike fusion machinery (S2 subunit) in collaboration with @McGuire_Lab

Work led by @MaxMSauer

biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

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We identified by cryoEM that B6 recognizes the spike stem helix and cross-reacts with at least 8 distinct coronavirus spikes including those of the three highly pathogenic (#SARSCoV2, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV) and the two endemic (OC43 and HKU1) human β-coronaviruses.

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B6 broadly neutralizes spike-mediated entry into cells of distantly related coronaviruses including OC43 (lineage A) as well as MERS-CoV and HKU4 (lineage C) with comparable potencies.

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Our data indicate that B6 recognizes a cryptic linear epitope and suggest that it sterically interferes with the spike conformational changes leading to membrane fusion.

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Check out these two complementary studies showing that MERS-CoV and #SARSCoV2 infections elicit stem-directed antibodies binding to an epitope similar to the one targeted by B6!

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biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

These results demonstrate that broad coronavirus neutralization can be achieved by a monoclonal antibody elicited through vaccination

Thank you @aletortorici @YoungjunPark11 @coronalexington @OliverActon3 @johnbowenbio Berend-Jan Bosch's lab and many others for contributing

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