RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 A novel therapeutic antibody screening method using bacterial high-content imaging reveals functional antibody binding phenotypes of Escherichia coli ST131 JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 2020.05.22.110148 DO 10.1101/2020.05.22.110148 A1 Mailis Maes A1 Zoe A. Dyson A1 Sarah E. Smith A1 David A. Goulding A1 Catherine Ludden A1 Stephen Baker A1 Paul Kellam A1 Stephen T. Reece A1 Gordon Dougan A1 Josefin Bartholdson Scott YR 2020 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/05/22/2020.05.22.110148.abstract AB The increase of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and lack of new classes of licensed antimicrobials, have made alternative treatment options for AMR pathogens increasingly attractive. Recent studies have demonstrated anti-bacterial efficacy of a humanised monoclonal antibody (mAb) targeting the O25b O-antigen of Escherichia coli ST131. To evaluate the phenotypic effects of antibody binding to diverse clinical E. coli ST131 O25b bacterial isolates in high-throughput, we designed a novel mAb screening method using high-content imaging (HCI) and image-based morphological profiling to screen a mAb targeting the O25b O-antigen. Screening the antibody against a panel of 86 clinical E. coli ST131 O25:H4 isolates revealed 4 binding phenotypes: no binding (18.60%), weak binding (4.65%), strong binding (69.77%) and strong agglutinating binding (6.98%). Impaired antibody binding could be explained by the presence of insertion sequences or mutations in O-antigen or lipopolysaccharide core biosynthesis genes, affecting the amount, structure or chain length of the O-antigen. The agglutinating binding phenotype was linked with lower O-antigen density, enhanced antibody-mediated phagocytosis and increased serum susceptibly. This study highlights the need to screen candidate mAbs against large panels of clinically relevant isolates, and that HCI can be used to evaluate mAb binding affinity and potential functional efficacy against AMR bacteria.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.