New COVID-19 ELISA Test Measures Levels of Neutralizing Antibodies Against Six Common SARS-CoV-2 Variants

A new ELISA test measures levels of neutralizing antibodies against six common variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. (San Diego, CA, USA) has developed a new test that measures levels of immune protection against each of the variants of SARS-CoV-2 in parallel fashion. The test takes less than two hours to complete and can provide an indication of relative risk of infection with each variant. SARS-CoV-2 variants from Brazil, South Africa, California and the UK have been shown to be more infectious and potentially more deadly than the original Wuhan strain due to mutations in the viral spike protein. This has caused concern because current COVID-19 vaccines are based on the spike protein in the Wuhan strain and it is not known how well the vaccines protect against the other variants.

The ELISA test is the most widely used type of immunoassay in diagnostic and research labs. ELISA is a high throughput test used to detect or quantify various biomolecules, including antibodies against pathogens or pathogen-derived proteins. ELISA is simple, sensitive, requires only microliter quantities of test samples and can be automated.

“The new test may also provide vaccine companies with valuable information for how well their vaccines protect against SARS-CoV-2 variants,” said John W. Huemoeller II, AXIM Biotech CEO. “If vaccine companies begin to include variants in their vaccine, the new test will be able to measure specific protective antibody responses to the variants. We hope this cutting edge work will be helpful as the more infectious variants begin to predominate worldwide.”

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