Methods and compositions for coronavirus diagnostics and therapeutics

A method of identifying a coronavirus spike protein for administration to elicit an immune response to coronavirus in a subject infected by a coronavirus and/or a subject at risk of coronavirus infection and/or to a subject for whom eliciting an immune response to a coronavirus is needed or desired, comprising:

• a) contacting a sample obtained from a subject infected with a coronavirus with a panel of proteins comprising:
• 1) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2c coronavirus,
• 2) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2b coronavirus,
• 3) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2a coronavirus,
• 4) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2d coronavirus,
• 5) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 1a coronavirus,
• 6) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 1b coronavirus, and
• 7) any combination of (1) through (6) above,
• under conditions whereby an antigen/antibody complex can form;
• and
• b) detecting formation of an antigen/antibody complex, whereby detection of formation of the antigen/antibody complex comprising the spike protein(s) of any of (1)-(6) identifies the presence of antibodies to a spike protein of the coronavirus that is infecting the subject of (a), thereby identifying a coronavirus spike protein for administration to the subject of (a) and/or to a subject infected with a coronavirus and/or to a subject at risk of coronavirus infection and/or to a subject for whom eliciting an immune response to a coronavirus is needed or desired.

A method of identifying a coronavirus spike protein for administration to elicit an immune response to coronavirus in a subject infected with a coronavirus and/or to a subject at risk of coronavirus infection and/or to a subject for whom eliciting an immune response to coronavirus is needed or desired, comprising:

• a) contacting a sample obtained from a subject known or suspected to be infected with a coronavirus with a panel of proteins comprising:
• 1) one or more nucleocapsid proteins from a subgroup 2c coronavirus,
• 2) one or more nucleocapsid proteins from a subgroup 2b coronavirus,
• 3) one or more nucleocapsid proteins from a subgroup 2a coronavirus,
• 4) one or more nucleocapsid proteins from a subgroup 2d coronavirus,
• 5) one or more nucleocapsid proteins from a subgroup 1a coronavirus,
• 6) one or more nucleocapsid proteins from a subgroup 1b coronavirus, and
• 7) any combination of (1) through (6) above,
• under conditions whereby an antigen/antibody complex can form;
• b) detecting formation of an antigen/antibody complex, whereby detection of formation of the antigen/antibody complex detects a coronavirus in the sample and whereby detection of formation of an antigen/antibody complex comprising the nucleocapsid protein(s) of (1) identifies the subgroup of the coronavirus in the sample as subgroup 2c;
• detection of an antigen/antibody complex comprising the nucleocapsid protein(s) of (2) identifies the subgroup of the coronavirus in the sample as subgroup 2b;
• detection of an antigen/antibody complex comprising the nucleocapsid protein(s) of (3) identifies the subgroup of the coronavirus in the sample as subgroup 2a;
• detection of an antigen/antibody complex comprising the nucleocapsid protein(s) of (4) identifies the subgroup of the coronavirus in the sample as subgroup 2d;
• detection of an antigen/antibody complex comprising the nucleocapsid protein(s) of (5) identifies the subgroup of the coronavirus in the sample as subgroup 1a;
• and detection of an antigen/antibody complex comprising the nucleocapsid protein(s) of (6) identifies the subgroup of the coronavirus in the sample as subgroup 1b;
• c) contacting the sample from the subject with a panel of proteins comprising:
• 1) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2c coronavirus,
• 2) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2b coronavirus,
• 3) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2a coronavirus,
• 4) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 2d coronavirus,
• 5) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 1a coronavirus,
• 6) one or more spike proteins from a subgroup 1b coronavirus, and
• 7) any combination of (1) through (6) above,
• under conditions whereby an antigen/antibody complex can form;
• and
• d) detecting formation of an antigen/antibody complex, whereby detection of formation of the antigen/antibody complex comprising the spike protein(s) of any of (1)-(6) identifies the presence of antibodies to a spike protein of the coronavirus that is infecting the subject of (a), thereby identifying a coronavirus spike protein for administration to the subject of (a) and/or to a subject infected with a coronavirus and/or to a subject at risk of coronavirus infection and/or to a subject for whom eliciting an immune response to coronavirus is needed or desired.

A method of identifying an antibody that neutralizes a coronavirus infecting a subject, comprising:

• a) isolating a coronavirus from a sample of a subject infected with a coronavirus and/or suspected of being infected with a coronavirus;
• b) contacting the coronavirus of (a) with a panel of antibodies comprising:
• 1) an antibody reactive with a spike protein from a subgroup 2c coronavirus,
• 2) an antibody reactive with a spike protein from a subgroup 2b coronavirus,
• 3) an antibody reactive with a spike protein from a subgroup 2a coronavirus,
• 4) an antibody reactive with a spike protein from a subgroup 2d coronavirus,
• 5) an antibody reactive with a spike protein from a subgroup 1a coronavirus,
• 6) an antibody reactive with a spike protein from a subgroup 1b coronavirus, and
• 7) any combination of (1) through (6) above,
• to form respective coronavirus/antibody compositions, each comprising a respective antibody of the panel;
• c) contacting each of the respective coronavirus/antibody compositions of (b) with cells susceptible to coronavirus infection under conditions whereby coronavirus infection can occur;
• and
• d) detecting the presence or absence of infection of the cells, whereby absence of detection of infection of the cells contacted with any of the coronavirus/antibody compositions of (b) identifies the antibody of that coronavirus/antibody composition as an antibody that neutralizes the coronavirus infecting the subject.