SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies Detection Kit (P.1 Variant, Gamma)

Coronaviruses (CoVs) are enveloped non-segmented positive-sense single-stranded RNA viruses and can infect respiratory, gastrointestinal, hepatic and central nervous system of human and many wild animals. Recently, a new severe acute respiratory syndrome β-coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 has emerged, which causes an epidemic of acute respiratory syndrome (called coronavirus human disease 2019 or COVID-19). SARS-CoV-2 contains 4 structural proteins, including Envelope (E), Membrane (M), Nucleocapsid (N) and Spike (S), which is a transmembrane protein, composed of two subunits S1 and S2. The S1 subunit contains a receptor binding domain (RBD), which binds to the cell surface receptor Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) present at the surface of epithelial cells, causing mainly infection of human respiratory cells.The SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies Detection Kit (P.1 Variant, Gamma) contains key reagents required to test the presence of functional neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 (variant P.1) present in the serum or plasma or/and to test the cross-reaction of SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies directed to previous variants. It is an easy and fast alternative to the classical neutralization assay using Vero E6 cells. This Detection Kit is based on a colorimetric reaction, which measures the binding of the RBD of the Spike S protein from SARS-CoV-2 to its human receptor ACE2. The presence of neutralizing/blocking antibodies in the samples are detected by reduction of signal indicating the inhibition of the Spike-ACE2 binding. 

The new variant of SARS-CoV-2, called P.1 (Gamma) was detected in Brazil. This variant carries three mutations in the RBD at the positions 417, 484 and 501 (K417T, E484K, N501Y). The P.1 or Brazilian variant is a form of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that might have contributed to a surge in cases in the northern city of Manaus.