Technology
The Serum Epitope Repertoire Analysis (SERA) platform is a universal serology platform that utilizes bacterial display peptide library technology and next generation sequencing to broadly profile antibody repertoires and identify the antigens and epitopes associated with many diseases – all in a single assay.
Benefits
Unlimited Multiplexing
Simultaneous profiling of multiple pathogens from a single specimen
Exquisitely High-Resolution
Epitope mapping in infectious diseases, oncology and autoimmune disease
Clinically Relevant Analysis
State-of-the-Art Database with 26,000+ profiled antibody repertoires from individuals with disease as well as healthy blood donors
Scientific Support
Leading experts in epitope analysis and bioinformatics
Ideal for
Epitope Mapping
Target Identification
Disease Stratification
Response Measurement
How it Works
Serum Epitope Repertoire Analysis (SERA) Platform
Combining universal chemistry with proprietary informatics, SERA assesses antibody repertoires to address research and clinical needs.
Two Complementary Bioinformatics Methods
Identify epitopes (PIWAS) and motifs (IMUNE) associated with disease.
Applications
Serimmune’s high precision SERA platform has been used in a wide range of applications for biomarker discovery, epitope and antigen discovery, infectious disease detection and serological surveillance.
Autoimmune Disease and Autoantigen Detection
Our SERA service has been used to identify both validated and potentially novel antigens in multiple autoimmune disorders. Candidate autoantigens in cohorts may help distinguish sub-types of disease or help to predict/track response to therapy, identify new targets, and enable precision immunology.
Figure 1. Identification of Autoantigen in in SLE. SERA Assay was utilized to analyze systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) samples (n=31) to observe autoantigens across the entire human proteome. This graph shows the top 22 identified protein in Among the top set of 22 ranked proteins, 5 were established autoantigens (Smith family in red, others in blue).
Reference Front. Immunol., 26 April 2021
Sec. B Cell Biology
Volume 12 – 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.625311
Oncology
Using SERA, researchers can identify candidate autoantigens that may be used as biomarkers for diagnosis, sub-typing, or monitoring in oncology. B cell response in immuno-oncology has recently been highlighted in association with response to checkpoint inhibitor therapy. SERA enables the tracking of potential autoantigen signals before and after therapy to identify candidate biomarkers of response to therapy, paving the way for precision oncology.
Figure 2. SERA was performed on patient serum samples to identify tumor-specific neoepitopes. Somatic mutation–specific neoepitopes were investigated by associating serum epitope enrichment scores with whole-genome sequencing results from paired solid tumor metastasis biopsies and germline blood samples. The Manhattan plot of PIWAS results highlights antigens significantly enriched in patients with prostate cancer compared with healthy control patients for every protein in the human proteome.
Reference Clin Cancer Res (2020) 26 (23): 6204–6214.
https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-1966
Vaccine Development
SERA’s unbiased, whole proteome approach to epitope discovery is ideal for mapping the targets of humoral responses to vaccination. Looking at IgG profiles can help identify immunodominant epitopes in naturally infected patients. These could be used to form the basis of vaccination strategy as these epitopes are likely to be neutralizing and protective. Additionally one can compare pre and post vaccination samples to understand their specificity was a result of vaccination vs naturally occurring infections.
Figure 3. Linear epitope mapping of spike protein in mRNA vaccine recipients using SERA Assay. The relative specificity for linear epitopes across the spike primary sequence (amino acid numbers on X-axis) were analyzed using SERA profiling. A. Subjects Pre-vaccine and B. Post-vaccine that received Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (#1–20). C. Data from subjects post Moderna vaccine (#21–28). D. Vaccinated subjects# 29–33 that previously had COVID-19.
Reference Immunogenic amino acid motifs and linear epitopes of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. PLoS ONE 16(9): e0252849. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252849
Infectious Disease
SERA can identify the most significant antigens in infections for diagnostic and therapeutic target discovery as demonstrated in COVID-19. Using cohorts with disease, SERA can also identify sensitive and specific peptides for infections that can be used on alternate diagnostic platforms.
Figure 4. Lyme Disease Detection using SERA Assay. Sample scores on Lyme IgG and IgM panels. (A) Discovery and validation specimen sets exhibited similar composite score of arbitrary units (AU) magnitude and distribution by SERA IgG assay (99.5% specificity). (B) Specimens negative by SERA IgG exhibiting positive SERA IgM scores (99.1% specificity).
Reference Serum Epitope Repertoire Analysis Enables Early Detection of Lyme Disease with Improved Sensitivity in an Expandable Multiplex Format. J Clin Microbiol (2021) 59:10.1128/jcm.01836-20.
https://doi.org/10.1128/jcm.01836-20
Population Serosurveillance
SERA has the broad potential to enable dynamic monitoring and surveillance for hundreds of diseases in one assay. It has recently been used to demonstrate the increase in seropositivity early in the COVID-19 epidemic. Significantly, SERA has also demonstrated the ability to detect seropositivity retrospectively and in silico, without the need of any new assays, enabling serosurveillance in individuals and populations for a variety of emerging infections.
Figure 5. Example Immune Status Report from Serimmune’s multiplex infectious disease and biomarker panel.