Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40069439›Full record

ArticleThe AAPS journal2025

Functional Activity and Binding Specificity of Small Ankyrin Repeat Proteins Called Ankyrons Against SARS-CoV-2 Variants.

Yun-Jong Park, Wojciech Jankowski, Nicholas C Hurst, Jeremy W Fry, Nikolai F Schwabe, Linda C C Tan, Zuben E Sauna

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Article in The AAPS journal, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Yun-Jong ParkHemostasis Branch 1, Division of Hemostasis, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 10903 New Hampshire Ave, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20993, USA.
Wojciech JankowskiHemostasis Branch 1, Division of Hemostasis, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 10903 New Hampshire Ave, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20993, USA.
Nicholas C HurstProImmune Limited, Magdalen Centre, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4GA, UK.
Jeremy W FryProImmune Limited, Magdalen Centre, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4GA, UK.
Nikolai F SchwabeProImmune Limited, Magdalen Centre, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4GA, UK.
Linda C C TanProImmune Limited, Magdalen Centre, Oxford Science Park, Oxford, OX4 4GA, UK.
Zuben E SaunaHemostasis Branch 1, Division of Hemostasis, Office of Plasma Protein Therapeutics, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 10903 New Hampshire Ave, Silver Spring, Maryland, 20993, USA. Zuben.Sauna@fda.hhs.gov.ORCID 0000-0001-8202-5188

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Effective management of COVID-19 requires clinical tools to treat the disease in addition to preventive vaccines. Several recombinant mAbs and their cocktails have been developed to treat COVID-19 but these have limitations. Here, we evaluate small ankyrin repeat proteins called Ankyrons that were generated to bind with high affinity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Ankyrons are ankyrin repeat proteins comprised of repetitions a structural module. Each module consists of a β-turn followed by two antiparallel α-helices. The Ankyrons™ are directly selected in vitro from a highly diverse library of around a trillion clones in ribosome display and like antibodies can bind with high affinity to almost any target. We assessed Ankyrons that were generated against the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and the Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (BA.1) variants in a binding assay. We determined that all Ankyrons were specific in that they did not bind to MERS. While all Ankyrons bound with high affinity to the variant they were generated against, some also showed cross-reactivity to all three SARS-CoV-2 variants. Binding assays are useful for screening analytes but do not provide information about clinical effectiveness. Therefore, we used a pseudovirus-based neutralization assay to show that five of the Ankyrons evaluated neutralized all three strains of SARS-CoV-2. We have provided a workflow for the evaluation of novel Ankyrons against a viral target. This suggests that Ankyrons could be useful for rapidly developing new research tools for studying other emerging infectious diseases rapidly with the optional further potential for developing Ankyrons into diagnostic and even therapeutic applications.

Indexed as

Ankyrin RepeatSARS-CoV-2Antibodies, ViralCOVID-19HumansProtein BindingAntibodies, ViralAnkyronsBiolayer Interferometry (BLI)Neutralization assaySARS-CoV-2Teralibrary

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.