Phage Display Technique as a Tool for Diagnosis and Antibody Selection for Coronaviruses

Abstract

Phage display is one of the important and effective molecular biology techniques and has remained indispensable for research community since its discovery in the year 1985. As a large number of nucleotide fragments may be cloned into the phage genome, a phage library may harbour millions or sometimes billions of unique and distinctive displayed peptide ligands. The ligand–receptor interactions forming the basis of phage display have been well utilized in epitope mapping and antigen presentation on the surface of bacteriophages for screening novel vaccine candidates by using affinity selection-based strategy called biopanning. This versatile technique has been modified tremendously over last three decades, leading to generation of different platforms for combinatorial peptide display. The translation of new diagnostic tools thus developed has been used in situations arising due to pathogenic microbes, including bacteria and deadly viruses, such as Zika, Ebola, Hendra, Nipah, Hanta, MERS and SARS. In the current situation of pandemic of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a search for neutralizing antibodies is motivating the researchers to find therapeutic candidates against novel SARS-CoV-2. As phage display is an important technique for antibody selection, this review presents a concise summary of the very recent applications of phage display technique with a special reference to progress in diagnostics and therapeutics for coronavirus diseases. Hopefully, this technique can complement studies on host–pathogen interactions and assist novel strategies of drug discovery for coronaviruses.

Phage display derived peptides for Alzheimer's disease therapy and diagnosis

“…pIII and pVIII capsid are the two commonly used coat proteins due to their wider tolerance range or stronger productivity 21 . The M13 phage display system is in a position to display folded proteins carrying disulfide bonds 22 . Numerous enzymes, functional antibody fragments, and inhibitors have been displayed using the M13 system 23 .…”

Micronutrient therapy and effective immune response: a promising approach for management of COVID-19

“…In this respect, WHO Emergency Use Listing (EUL) has reported the administration of at least thirteen different vaccines (e.g., Pfizer/BioNtech, AstraZeneca/AZD1222, Janssen/Ad26.COV 2.S, and Moderna). Besides, recent studies have focused on developing effective therapeutic agents against COVID -19, such as antiviral drugs and antibody therapy [ 48 , 49 ]; however, the pivotal role of consuming nutrients, vitamins, and minerals cannot be ignored [ 50 ].

Fig.

…”

Recent Advances in Novel Lateral Flow Technologies for Detection of COVID-19

“…To overcome this issue, phage display can be used to select SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with the strongest affinity. The phage display technique is a powerful method within the field of molecular biology that was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and has been widely used for the selection of antibodies, peptides, and disease-specific antigens [ 122 ]. In phage display, an exogenous DNA fragment encoding a protein of interest is inserted into a phage coat protein gene on the exposed surface, which is then capable of interacting with various external target molecules.…”

“…Phage display has been used to develop a variety of diagnostics and treatments, as well as in the investigation of antibody–antigen interactions, and epitope mapping for SARS-CoV-2 [ 122 , 124 , 125 , 126 ]. Using the phage display method, researchers are able to isolate SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal chicken egg yolk IgY antibodies ( Figure 9 ) [ 127 ].…”