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Computational and Experimental Antibody Affinity and Diagnostic Accuracy Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 SD2 Major Disulfide Loop Analog

Pollo, B. A. L. V.; Perias, G. A.; Aguimatang, R. H.; Espiritu, A. P.; Ching, D.; Idolor, M. I.; King, R. A.; Climacosa, F. M.; Caoili, S. E.

2026-06-08 infectious diseases
10.64898/2026.06.05.26353587 medRxiv
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Introduction: Synthetic oligopeptides provide a rapid and cost-efficient approach to developing antibodies and diagnostics for emerging viral variants. Methods: This study computationally and experimentally characterized a synthetic peptide analog of the SARS-CoV-2 spike subdomain 2 major disulfide loop (SD2MDL), designated S621 (CPVAIHADQLTPTWRVYSTC). Binding affinity was computationally estimated using the Heuristic Affinity Prediction Tool for Immune Complexes (HAPTIC), while experimental validation was performed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with rabbit-derived antipeptide antibodies. Clinical diagnostic accuracy testing was done using plasma samples from RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients and pre-COVID-19 controls. Results: S621 demonstrated nanomolar binding affinity (Kdapp = 1.14 nM) and high avidity (3.67 nM), closely matching HAPTIC predictions (3.54 nM). Diagnostic evaluation yielded a sensitivity of 89.92% and specificity of 27.79%, corresponding to an overall accuracy of 71.79%. Discussion: These findings demonstrate that a single synthetic peptide derived from a conserved spike subdomain can function as a high-affinity surrogate for full-length antigens, supporting its potential application in rapid peptide-based immunodiagnostics.

Published in Frontiers in Tropical Diseases · not in our set (fewer than 10 published preprints to learn from) · training set

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