High-resolution snapshots of antibody repertoires as potential correlates of protection

Abstract

High-resolution snapshots of antibody repertoires as potential correlates of protection Klaus Eyer from ETH Zurich describes high-resolution snapshots of antibody repertoires as potential correlates of protection. The induction and long-term presence of key adaptive immune cells are essential for vaccine-mediated protection. As a direct, causal measure of protection is often challenging; finding and defining correlates of protection are critical for vaccine development, approval, and efficacy testing. Correlates of protection are quantifiable signs of being protected from becoming infected and/or developing disease that may be causal to protection itself. Antibodies in serum are often assessed as potential correlates as immunisations often lead to generating a vaccine-specific, functionally active and diverse antibody repertoire. In its simplest form, a potential correlate could be their presence if binding by the antibody is sufficient. This is assessed in the so-called titer measurements. Here, a serum sample is sequentially diluted, and the binding of the antibodies towards the vaccine is evaluated and compared to an often empirically derived threshold. This gold-standard measure has many advantages: it is fast, reliable and easily compared.