Single B cells-based antibody platforms offer an effective approach for the discovery of useful antibodies for therapeutic or research purposes. Here we present a method for screening equine immunoglobins F(ab)2, which offers the potential advantage of reacting with multiple epitopes on the virus. Using equine influenza virus (EIV) as model, a hemagglutinin (HA) trimer was constructed to bait B cells in vaccinated horses. We screened 370 HA-specific B cells from 1 × 106 PBMCs and identified a diverse set of equine variable region gene sequences of heavy and light chains and then recombined with humanized Ig Fc. Recombinant equine Ig was then self-assembled in co-transfected 293 T cells, and subsequently optimized to obtain HA binding B-cell receptor (s). The recombinant antibodies exhibited a high binding affinity to the HA protein. Antibody H81 exhibited the highest cross neutralizing activities against EIV strains in vitro. Furthermore, it effectively protected EIV-challenged mice, resulting in significantly improved survival, reduced pulmonary inflammation and decreased viral titers. In silico predication identified a functional region of H81 comprising 27 key amino acids cross the main circulating EIV strains. The 12 amino acid residues in this region with the highest binding affinities were screened. Notably, the predicted epitopes of H81 encompassed the documented equine HA receptor binding site, validating its cross-neutralization. In summary, a rapid platform was successfully established to investigate the profiling of equine antigen-recognizing receptors (BCRs) following infection. This platform has the potential to optimize the screening of virus-neutralizing antibodies and aid in vaccine design.
Keywords: Single B cells-based antibody platform; equine immunoglobulins F(ab)2; influenza viruses; neutralizing antibodies; vaccine design.