In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 4 Rotary Clubs of the Grand Duchy joined forces in support of Luxembourg’s research on the novel coronavirus, raising a special fund. The selected project is NEUTRACOV, led by Dr Danielle Perez Bercoff at the LIH Department of Infection and Immunity (DII), which received a generous donation of EUR 30,000 from the Rotary Clubs on June 19th.  

One of the major challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic is the current lack of specific drugs and vaccines against coronaviruses in general and against the novel SARS-CoV-2 virus. Moreover, little is known about immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and the efficacy and duration of the antibody response. Passive immunization of patients with severe or critical COVID-19 manifestations using the plasma from recovered patients – a technique known as plasmapheresis – is one possible approach to treat severe cases. This method has been used in the past to treat other lethal viral infections such as SARS, MERS or Ebola, and clinical plasmapheresis protocols to treat COVID-19 are underway in the US, France and at the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL).

In this context, Dr Danielle Perez Bercoff, Group Leader within the Allergology, Immunology and Inflammation Research Unit of the LIH DII, is leading the project “NEUTRACOV” (A Novel High Throughput Assay To Measure Plasma NEUTRAlizing Activity Against SARS-CoV-2). The aim of the project is to develop a high-throughput assay to measure the ability of plasma and antibodies to effectively neutralise SARS-CoV-2. The test will be used in the short term to assist CHL in identifying plasma from recovered patients with the highest neutralising activity. This could then be transferred by plasmapheresis to patients with severe or critical illness, when needed. In the mid-long term, the NEUTRACOV test will be used to identify neutralising antibodies in patients with different illness severity, thereby providing a rationale to predict patient outcome. It will also be used to evaluate the effectiveness, duration and waning of neutralizing antibodies in patients recovered from COVID-19 and in vaccinated individuals once a vaccine becomes available. 

“The aim of our project is to provide an accurate and useful tool to maximize the efficacy of plasma transfusions as a viable therapeutic option for COVID-19, thereby tangibly improving patient outcomes. Moreover, the test will be a valuable tool for the development of a vaccine. We are therefore extremely grateful to the Luxembourg Rotary Clubs for their generous donation”, says Dr Perez Bercoff. 

Dr Perez Bercoff holds a PhD in Medical Virology from the University of Paris VII. She obtained her PhD at Institut Pasteur in Paris, in the laboratory of Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize. She worked on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) for many years, both in France and Luxembourg, tackling immune responses against HIV as well as developing neutralisation and antiviral resistance assays. Her experience in HIV and the close collaboration with the Virology Teams at DII and CHL are invaluable in the current crisis context to rapidly apply these technologies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The “NEUTRACOV” project had initially been funded in April 2020 by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) through a EUR 50,000 grant under the new “COVID-19 Fast Track Call” funding scheme.