1. Performance of a SARS CoV-2 antibody ELISA based on simultaneous measurement of antibodies against the viral nucleoprotein and receptor-binding domain
- Author
-
Andrea Aebischer, Torsten Schöneberg, Carolin Schnurra, Christian Jassoy, Thomas Hermsdorf, Sven Reiche, Nina Reiners, Henning Trawinski, and Judith Kannenberg
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Microbiology (medical) ,2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,SARS CoV-2 ,Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ,Antibodies, Viral ,Antibodies ,03 medical and health sciences ,COVID-19 Testing ,0302 clinical medicine ,Protein Domains ,Antigen ,Humans ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Nucleoprotein ,biology ,SARS-CoV-2 ,Chemistry ,Brief Report ,COVID-19 ,Spike Protein ,General Medicine ,Virology ,Receptor-binding domain ,Nucleoproteins ,030104 developmental biology ,Infectious Diseases ,biology.protein ,ELISA ,Antibody - Abstract
SARS CoV-2 antibody assays measure antibodies against the viral nucleoprotein (NP) or spike protein. The study examined if testing of antibodies against both antigens increases the diagnostic sensitivity. Sera (N=98) from infected individuals were tested with ELISAs based on the NP, receptor-binding domain (RBD), or both proteins. The AUROCs were 0.958 (NP), 0.991 (RBD), and 0.992 (NP/RBD). The RBD- and NP/RBD-based ELISAs showed better performance than the NP-based assay. Simultaneous testing for antibodies against NP and RBD increased the number of true and false positives. If maximum diagnostic sensitivity is required, the NP/RBD-based ELISA is preferable. Otherwise, the RBD-based ELISA is sufficient. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10096-021-04284-5.
- Published
- 2021