Versatile and multivalent nanobodies efficiently neutralize SARS-CoV-2
Cost-effective, efficacious therapeutics are urgently needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we used camelid immunization and proteomics to identify a large repertoire of highly potent neutralizing nanobodies (Nbs) to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD). We discovered Nbs with picomolar to femtomolar affinities that inhibit viral infection at concentrations below the nanograms-per-milliliter level, and we determined a structure of one of the most potent Nbs in complex with the RBD. Structural proteomics and integrative modeling revealed multiple distinct and nonoverlapping epitopes and indicated an array of potential neutralization mechanisms. We bioengineered multivalent Nb constructs that achieved ultrahigh neutralization potency (half-maximal inhibitory concentration as low as 0.058 ng/ml) and may prevent mutational escape. These thermostable Nbs can be rapidly produced in bulk from microbes and resist lyophilization and aerosolization.
Inhalable Nanobody (PiN-21) prevents and treats SARS-CoV-2 infections in Syrian hamsters at ultra-low doses
We previously generated the stable and ultrapotent homotrimeric Pittsburgh inhalable Nanobody 21 (PiN-21). Using Syrian hamsters that model moderate to severe COVID-19 disease, we demonstrate the high efficacy of PiN-21 to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Intranasal delivery of PiN-21 at 0.6 mg/kg protects infected animals from weight loss and substantially reduces viral burdens in both lower and upper airways compared to control. Aerosol delivery of PiN-21 facilitates deposition throughout the respiratory tract and dose minimization to 0.2 mg/kg. Inhalation treatment quickly reverses animals’ weight loss after infection, decreases lung viral titers by 6 logs leading to drastically mitigated lung pathology, and prevents viral pneumonia. Combined with the marked stability and low production cost, this innovative therapy may provide a convenient and cost-effective option to mitigate the ongoing pandemic.
Potent neutralizing nanobodies resist convergent circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 by targeting novel and conserved epitopes
There is an urgent need to develop effective interventions resistant to the evolving variants of SARS-CoV-2. Nanobodies (Nbs) are stable and cost-effective agents that can be delivered by novel aerosolization route to treat SARS-CoV-2 infections efficiently. However, it remains unknown if they possess broadly neutralizing activities against the prevalent circulating strains. We found that potent neutralizing Nbs are highly resistant to the convergent variants of concern that evade a large panel of neutralizing antibodies (Abs) and significantly reduce the activities of convalescent or vaccine-elicited sera. Subsequent determination of 9 high-resolution structures involving 6 potent neutralizing Nbs by cryoelectron microscopy reveals conserved and novel epitopes on virus spike inaccessible to Abs. Systematic structural comparison of neutralizing Abs and Nbs provides critical insights into how Nbs uniquely target the spike to achieve high-affinity and broadly neutralizing activity against the evolving virus. Our study will inform the rational design of novel pan-coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics.
Integrative proteomics identifies thousands of distinct, multi-epitope, and high-affinity nanobodies
We developed a proteomic strategy to survey, at an unprecedented scale, the landscape of antigen-engaged, circulating camelid heavy-chain antibodies, whose minimal binding fragments are called VHH antibodies or nanobodies. The sensitivity and robustness of this approach were validated with three antigens spanning orders of magnitude in immune responses; thousands of distinct, high-affinity nanobody families were reliably identified and quantified. Using high-throughput structural modeling, cross-linking mass spectrometry, mutagenesis, and deep learning, we mapped and analyzed the epitopes of >100,000 antigen-nanobody complexes. Our results revealed a surprising diversity of ultrahigh-affinity camelid nanobodies for specific antigen binding on various dominant epitope clusters. Nanobodies utilize both shape and charge complementarity to enable highly selective antigen binding. Interestingly, we found that nanobody-antigen binding can mimic conserved intracellular protein-protein interactions. A record of this paper's Transparent Peer Review process is included in the Supplemental information.
A Resource of High-Quality Nanobodies for Drug Delivery
Therapeutic and diagnostic efficacies of numerous small biomolecules and chemical compounds are hampered by poor pharmacokinetics. Here we developed a repertoire of distinct and high-affinity albumin-nanobodies (NbHSA) to facilitate drug delivery. Using biophysics and hybrid structural methods, we have systematically characterized the Nb repertoire, mapped the epitopes, and resolved the architecture of a tetrameric Nb-albumin complex. We employed quantitative proteomics for accurate and multiplex pharmacokinetic analysis of dozens of diverse and high-quality NbHSA and confirmed the most stable construct has a 771-fold T1/2 improvement compared to non-albumin binding Nbs. Interestingly, the pharmacokinetics of NbHSA is related to their biophysical and structural properties. To demonstrate the utility of NbHSA, we developed stable NbHSA-cytokine conjugates “Duraleukins” and confirmed the high anticancer efficacy of a Duraluekin in vivo. This high-quality Nb resource may help advance research into novel biotherapeutics.
All Publications
2021
33. Llamanade: an open-source computational pipeline for robust nanobody humanization. Sang, J., Xiang, Y., Barhar. I., and Shi, Y. (under review).
33. Chen, A., Jiang, Y., Li, Z., Wu, L., Santiago, U., Zou, H., Cai, C., Sharma, V., Guan, Y., McCarl, L.H., et al. (2021). Chitinase-3-like 1 protein complexes modulate macrophage-mediated immune suppression in glioblastoma. J Clin Invest 131.
32. Dapeng Sun*, Zhe Sang*, Yong Joon Kim*, Yufei Xiang, Tomer Cohen, Anna K. Belford, Alexis Huet, James F. Conway, Ji Sun, Derek J. Taylor, Dina Schneidman-Duhovny#, Cheng Zhang#, Wei Huang#, and Yi Shi# (2021). Potent neutralizing nanobodies resist convergent circulating variants of SARS-CoV-2 by targeting novel and conserved epitopes. Nature Communications.
31. Sham Nambulli*, Yufei Xiang*, Natasha L. Tilston-Lunel, Linda J. Rennick, Zhe Sang, William B. Klimstra, Douglas S. Reed, Nicholas A. Crossland, Yi Shi# and W. Paul Duprex#. (2021). Inhalable Nanobody (PiN-21) prevents and treats SARS-CoV-2 infections in Syrian hamsters at ultra-low doses. Science Advances
30. Xiang, Y., Sang, Z., Bitton, L., Xu, J., Liu, Y., Schneidman-Duhovny, D., and Shi, Y (2021). Integrative proteomics identifies thousands of distinct and high-affinity nanobodies. Cell Systems.
Cover story: https://www.cell.com/cell-systems/issue?pii=S2405-4712(20)X0007-X
29. Cryo-EM structure of the yeast TREX complex and coordination with the SR-like protein Gbp2. Yihu Xie, Bradley P. Clarkea, Yong Joon Kimb, Austin L. Iveya, Pate S. Hilla, Yi Shi, and Yi Ren. (2021). eLife (in press)
28. A resource of high-quality nanobodies for drug delivery. Shen Z, Xiang Y, Vegara S, Chen A, Xiao Z, Santiago U, Jin C, Sang Z, Luo J, Chen K, Schneidman-Duhovny D, Camacho C, Calero G, Hu B, Shi Y (2021). accepted
27. Ubiquitination-mediated degradation of TRDMT1 regulates homologous recombination and therapeutic response. Zhu, X., Wang, X., Yan, W., Yang, H., Xiang, Y., Lv, F., Shi, Y., Li, H.Y., and Lan, L. (2021). NAR Cancer 3, zcab010.
2020
26. Xiang, Y., Nambulli, S., Xiao, Z., Liu, H., Sang, Z., Duprex, W.P., Schneidman-Duhovny, D., Zhang, C., and Shi, Y. (2020). Versatile and multivalent nanobodies efficiently neutralize SARS-CoV-2. Science. (2020)
25. Yufei Xiang, Zhuolun Shen, and Yi Shi. Chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometric (CX-MS) analysis of the endogenous yeast exosome complexes. (2020). Methods in Molecular Biology.
24. Sai J Ganesan, Michael J Feyder, Ilan E Chemmama, Fei Fang, Michael P Rout, Brian T Chait, Yi Shi, Mary Munson, Andrej Sali. Integrative Structure and Function of the Yeast Exocyst Complex. (2020). Protein Science.
2019
23. Iacobucci, C., Piotrowski, C., Aebersold, R., Amaral, B.C., Andrews, P., Bernfur, K., Borchers, C., Brodie, N.I., Bruce, J.E., Cao, Y., Shi, Y., et al. (2019). First Community-Wide, Comparative Cross-Linking Mass Spectrometry Study. Analytical Chemistry 91, 6953-6961.
22. Yaqun Teng, Tribhuwan Yadav, Meihan Duan, Jun Tan, Yufei Xiang, Boya Gao, Jianquan Xu, Zhuobin Liang, Yang Liu, Satoshi Nakajima, Yi Shi, Arthur S Levine, Lee Zou, Li Lan (2018). ROS-induced R loops trigger a transcription-coupled but BRCA1/2-independent homologous recombination pathway through CSB. Nature communications 9, 4115
2018
21. Jishage, M., Yu, X., Shi, Y., Ganesan, S.J., Chen, W.Y., Sali, A., Chait, B.T., Asturias, F.J., and Roeder, R.G. (2018). Architecture of Pol II(G) and molecular mechanism of transcription regulation by Gdown1. Nat Struct Mol Biol 25, 859-867.
20. Kim, S.J.*, Fernandez-Martinez, J.*, Nudelman, I.*, Shi, Y.*, Zhang, W.*, Raveh, B., Herricks, T., Slaughter, B.D., Hogan, J., Paula, U., Chemmama, I., Pallerin, R., Echeverria, I., Shivaraju, M., Chaudhury, A.S., Wang, J.J., Williams, R., Unruh, J.R., Greenberg, C.H., Jacobs, E.Y., Yu, Z., De la Cruz, M.J., Mironska, R., Strokes, D.L., Aitchison, J.D., Jarrold, M.F., Gerton, J.L., Ludtke, S.J., Akey, C.W., Chait, B.T., Sali, A., and Rout, M.P. Structure and Functional Anatomy of the Nuclear Pore Complex (2018). Nature 555, 475-482. PMID: 29539637
“An Architectural Guide to the Nuclear Pore Complex”- Comments from the NIH director Francis Collins
Publications Prior to 2017
19. Fernandez-Martinez J*, Kim SJ*, Shi Y*, Paula U*, Pellerin R*, Zenklusen D, Chemmama I, Nudelman I, Wang JJ, Timney, B, Williams R, Strokes DL, Chait BT, Sali A, and Rout MP . (2016). Structure and Function of the Nuclear Pore Complex Cytoplasmic mRNA Export Platform. Cell 167, 1–14
Preview by: Gozalo, A. & Capelson, M. A New Path through the Nuclear Pore. Cell 167, 1159-1160 2016.
18. Chait, B.T., Cardene, M., Olinares, P.D., Rout, M.P., and Shi, Y. (2016). Revealing Higher Order Protein Structure Using Mass Spectrometry. JASMS 27, 952-965.
17. Hunziker, M., Barandun, J., Petfalski, E., Tan, D., Delan-Forino, C., Molloy, K.R., Kim, K.H., Dunn-Davies, H., Shi, Y., Chaker-Margot, M., et al. (2016). UtpA and UtpB chaperone nascent pre-ribosomal RNA and U3 snoRNA to initiate eukaryotic ribosome assembly. Nature Communications 7, 12090.
16. Shi, Y., Pellarin, R., Fridy, P.C., Fernandez-Martinez, J., Thompson, M.K., Li, Y., Wang, Q.J., Sali, A., Rout, M.P., and Chait, B.T. (2015). A strategy for dissecting the architectures of native macromolecular assemblies. Nature Methods 12, 1135-1138.
15. Sun, J., Shi, Y., Georgescu, R.E., Yuan, Z., Chait, B.T., Li, H., and O'Donnell, M.E. (2015). The architecture of a eukaryotic replisome. Nat Struct Mol Biol 22, 976-982.
14. LoPiccolo, J., Kim, S.J., Shi, Y., Wu, B., Wu, H., Chait, B.T., Singer, R.H., Sali, A., Brenowitz, M., Bresnick, A.R., et al. (2015). Assembly and Molecular Architecture of the Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase p85alpha Homodimer. Journal of Biological Chemistry 290, 30390-30405.
13. Morris, D.H., Yip, C.K., Shi, Y., Chait, B.T., and Wang, Q.J. (2015). Beclin 1-Vps34 Complex Architecture: Understanding the Nuts and Bolts of Therapeutic Targets. Frontiers in biology 10, 398-426.
12. Cevher, M.A., Shi, Y., Li, D., Chait, B.T., Malik, S., and Roeder, R.G. (2014). Reconstitution of active human core Mediator complex reveals a critical role of the MED14 subunit. Nat Struct Mol Biol 21, 1028-1034.
11. Shi, Y.*, Fernandez-Martinez, J.*, Tjioe, E.*, Pellarin, R.*, Kim, S.J.*, Williams, R., Schneidman-Duhovny, D., Sali, A., Rout, M.P., and Chait, B.T. (2014). Structural Characterization by Cross-linking Reveals the Detailed Architecture of a Coatomer-related Heptameric Module from the Nuclear Pore Complex. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 13, 2927-2943.
10. Algret, R., Fernandez-Martinez, J., Shi, Y., Kim, S.J., Pellarin, R., Cimermancic, P., Cochet, E., Sali, A., Chait, B.T., Rout, M.P., et al. (2014). Molecular architecture and function of the SEA complex, a modulator of the TORC1 pathway. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 13, 2855-2870.
9. Kim, S.J., Fernandez-Martinez, J., Sampathkumar, P., Martel, A., Matsui, T., Tsuruta, H., Weiss, T.M., Shi, Y., Markina-Inarrairaegui, A., Bonanno, J.B., et al. (2014). Integrative structure-function mapping of the nucleoporin Nup133 suggests a conserved mechanism for membrane anchoring of the nuclear pore complex. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 13, 2911-2926.
8. Yucer, N., Shi, Y., Wang, Y. (2013) Protein Ubiquitination in IR-Induced DNA Damage Response. Intech.
Krenciute, G., Liu, S.F., Yucer, N., Shi, Y., Ortiz, P., Liu, Q.M., Kim, B.J., Odejimi, A.O., Leng, M., Qin, J., et al. (2013). Nuclear BAG6-UBL4A-GET4 Complex Mediates DNA Damage Signaling and Cell Death. Journal of Biological Chemistry 288, 20547-20557.
7. Fan, Y.*, Shi, Y.*, Liu, S.*, Mao, R., An, L., Zhao, Y., Zhang, H., Zhang, F., Xu, G., Qin, J., et al. (2012). Lys48-linked TAK1 polyubiquitination at lysine-72 downregulates TNFalpha-induced NF-kappaB activation via mediating TAK1 degradation. Cell Signal 24, 1381-1389.
6. Malovannaya, A., Lanz, R.B., Jung, S.Y., Bulynko, Y., Le, N.T., Chan, D.W., Ding, C., Shi, Y., Yucer, N., Krenciute, G., et al. (2011). Analysis of the human endogenous coregulator complexome. Cell 145, 787-799.
5. Shi, Y., Chan, D.W., Jung, S.Y., Malovannaya, A., Wang, Y., and Qin, J. (2011a). A data set of human endogenous protein ubiquitination sites. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 10, M110 002089.
4. Shi, Y., Xu, P., and Qin, J. (2011b). Ubiquitinated proteome: ready for global? Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 10, R110 006882.
3. Fan, Y., Yu, Y., Shi, Y., Sun, W., Xie, M., Ge, N., Mao, R., Chang, A., Xu, G., Schneider, M.D., et al. (2010). Lysine 63-linked polyubiquitination of TAK1 at lysine 158 is required for tumor necrosis factor alpha- and interleukin-1beta-induced IKK/NF-kappaB and JNK/AP-1 activation. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285, 5347-5360.
2. Sun, W., Tan, X., Shi, Y., Xu, G., Mao, R., Gu, X., Fan, Y., Yu, Y., Burlingame, S., Zhang, H., et al. (2010). USP11 negatively regulates TNFalpha-induced NF-kappaB activation by targeting on IkappaBalpha. Cell Signal 22, 386-394.
1. Xu, G., Tan, X., Wang, H., Sun, W., Shi, Y., Burlingame, S., Gu, X., Cao, G., Zhang, T., Qin, J., et al. (2010). Ubiquitin-specific peptidase 21 inhibits tumor necrosis factor alpha-induced nuclear factor kappaB activation via binding to and deubiquitinating receptor-interacting protein 1. Journal of Biological Chemistry 285, 969-978.