COVID-19 is a severe acute respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, a novel betacoronavirus discovered in December 2019 and closely related to the SARS coronavirus (CoV). Both viruses use the human ACE2 receptor for cell entry, recognizing it with the Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) of the S1 subunit of the viral spike (S) protein.The S2 domain mediates viral fusion with the host cell membrane. Experience with SARS and MERS coronavirus has shown that potent monoclonal neutralizing antibodies against the RBD can inhibit the interaction with the virus cellular receptor (ACE2 for SARS) and block the virus cell entry. Assuming that a similar strategy would be successful against SARS-CoV-2, we used phage display to select from the human naïve universal antibody gene libraries HAL9/10 anti SARS2 spike antibodies capable of inhibiting interaction with ACE2. 309 unique fully human antibodies against S1 were identified. 17 showed more than 75% inhibition of spike binding to cells expressing ACE2, assessed by flow cytometry and several antibodies showed even an 50% inhibition at a molar ratio of the antibody to spike protein or RBD of 1:1. Furthermore, these antibodies neutralized active SARS-Cov-2 virus infection of VeroE6 cells. All 17 were all able to bind the isolated RBD, four of them with sub-nanomolar EC50. Epitope analysis of the antibodies revealed that six bind at the RBD-ACE2 interface and two on the opposite side of the domain. Universal libraries from healthy donors offer the advantage that antibodies can be generated quickly and independent from the availability of material from recovered patients in a pandemic situation. 4/34 Main textIn 2015 Menachery et al. wrote: "Our work suggests a potential risk of SARS-CoV reemergence from viruses currently circulating in bat populations." 1 . Four years later, a novel coronavirus causing a severe pneumonia was discovered and later named SARS-CoV-2. The outbreak started on a sea food market in Wuhan, Hubei province (China) at the end of 2019. The disease was named COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) by the World Health Organization (WHO). Sequencing showed high identity to bat corona viruses (CoV, in particular RaTG13), beta-CoV virus causing human diseases like SARS and MERS and, to a lesser extent, the seasonal CoV hCoV-OC43 and HCov-HKU1 2,3 . The spike (S) protein of SARS-CoV-2, as well as SARS-CoV, binds to the human zinc peptidase angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) which is expressed on lung cells, heart, kidney and intestine cells and acts as receptor for virus entry. S protein consists of the N-terminal S1 subunit, which includes the receptor binding domain (RBD), and the Cterminal S2 subunit which is anchored to the viral membrane and is required for trimerization and fusion of the virus and host membrane 4-6 . The membrane bound host protease TMPRSS2 is responsible for S protein priming by cleavage of specific sites between S1 and S2. In addition to proteolytic activation of the S2' site, conformational changes and viral entry 7-10 .Antibodies against the...

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