Neutralizing antibodies are generated within weeks after infection or vaccination (immunization). NAbs can be used for patient treatment in the form of monoclonal antibodies. Neutralization assays are capable of quantitatively detecting NAbs against SARS-CoV-2, which allows for investigating the relationship between the level of NAbs and the severity of the infection and may predict the probability of a breakthrough infection.
The measurement of NAbs can be useful to determine the effects of monoclonal antibodies, convalescent plasma, and vaccination. Currently, the "gold standard" for measuring NAbs is a wild-type neutralization assay, but pseudovirus neutralization assays, surrogate virus neutralization tests (sVNT), and high-throughput versions of neutralizations are popular.29