Molecular Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Formalin Fixed Paraffin Embedded Specimens

Xiankun Zeng; Jun Liu; April Babka; Brian Kearney; Sheli Radoshitzky; Jens Kuhn

Detection of viral antigen using IHC or IFA techniques and detection of viral nucleic acids using 64 ISH within infected, but inactivated, human or animal model tissues greatly facilitates detection 65 of viral infection and thereby pathogenesis and MCM efficacy studies. These techniques become 66 paramount in particular for studies of a potential pathogen that does not cause overt, or causes 67 only mild, disease, such as SARS-CoV-2 in the currently available animal models. Viral antigen-68 based immunostaining has been used to detect SARS-CoV-2 antigen in both post-mortem human 69 and animal tissues (1, 16, 22, 25) . However, the antibodies used in these studies were produced 70 in-house and therefore are not commonly available. Identification and characterization of 71 commercially available anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and ISH assays that can be used to detect 72 SARS-CoV-2 in FFPE tissues are therefore critically needed. 73 author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.