Direct serological antibody discovery by integrative proteomics yields potent neutralizers overlooked by single-cell BCR sequencing
Human antibody discovery relies on accessing in vivo-matured repertoires, yet conventional single-cell B cell receptor sequencing (scBCR-seq) often overlooks the most relevant, functional antibodies secreted by plasma cells. Here, we introduce AbDirect, a protein-centric discovery platform that obtains antibody sequences directly from small-volume biofluids. In this proof-of-concept, we apply AbDirect to potent COVID-19 plasma from which an early-pandemic scBCR-seq study did not identify neutralizers. Upfront reactivity screening of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein repertoires revealed diverse clonal profiles with distinct cross-reactivity and subunit specificity. Targeted de novo sequencing via standalone integrative proteomics yielded 14 IgG1 and 4 IgA1 clones that diverged markedly from peripheral B cell counterparts in germline usage and phylogeny, indicating distinct immunological compartments. Validation via recombinant mAbs demonstrated superior binding and highly potent neutralization for multiple sequenced clones (three with IC50 [≤]1.4 nM). AbDirect thus yielded potent antibodies overlooked by scBCR-seq, demonstrating serological discovery as a powerful complementary approach for uncovering functional repertoires that may be inaccessible to cell-based methods.