Development of a Unique Rapid Test to Detect Anti-bodies Directed Against an Extended RBD of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein

Brosi, Larissa; Kübler, Eric; Weston, Anna; Romann, Patrick; Panikulam, Sherin; Dirscherl, Lorin; Gerspach, Michael; Giegelmann, Cedric; Dolce, Daniele; Überschlag, Marie-Eve; Melone, Anna; Bantleon, Frank I; Villiger, Thomas K; Gerhold, Christian-B

Serological testing for antibodies directed against SARS-CoV-2 in patients may serve as a diagnostic tool to verify a previous infection and as surrogate for an elicited humoral immune response, ideally conferring immunity after infection or vaccination. Here, we present the recombinant expression of an extended receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein used as capture antigen in a unique rapid immunoassay to detect the presence of RBD binding antibodies with high sensitivity and specificity. As currently available vaccines focus on the Spike RBD as target, the developed test can also be used to monitor a successful immune response after vaccination with an RBD based vaccine.