Immuno-informatics design of a multimeric epitope peptide based vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein

PLoS One. 2021 Mar 17;16(3):e0248061. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248061. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Developing an efficacious vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 infection is critical to stemming COVID-19 fatalities and providing the global community with immune protection. We have used a bioinformatic approach to aid in designing an epitope peptide-based vaccine against the spike protein of the virus. Five antigenic B cell epitopes with viable antigenicity and a total of 27 discontinuous B cell epitopes were mapped out structurally in the spike protein for antibody recognition. We identified eight CD8+ T cell 9-mers and 12 CD4+ T cell 14-15-mer as promising candidate epitopes putatively restricted by a large number of MHC I and II alleles, respectively. We used this information to construct an in silico chimeric peptide vaccine whose translational rate was highly expressed when cloned in pET28a (+) vector. With our In silico test, the vaccine construct was predicted to elicit high antigenicity and cell-mediated immunity when given as a homologous prime-boost, triggering of toll-like receptor 5 by the adjuvant linker. The vaccine was also characterized by an increase in IgM and IgG and an array of Th1 and Th2 cytokines. Upon in silico challenge with SARS-CoV-2, there was a decrease in antigen levels using our immune simulations. We, therefore, propose that potential vaccine designs consider this approach.

MeSH terms

  • CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • COVID-19 / immunology
  • COVID-19 Vaccines / immunology*
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Cytokines / immunology
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / immunology*
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / immunology
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Cellular / immunology
  • Immunogenicity, Vaccine
  • Immunoglobulin G / immunology
  • Immunoglobulin M / immunology
  • Molecular Docking Simulation
  • Peptides / immunology
  • SARS-CoV-2 / immunology*
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / immunology*
  • Vaccines, Subunit / immunology

Substances

  • COVID-19 Vaccines
  • Cytokines
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class I
  • Histocompatibility Antigens Class II
  • Immunoglobulin G
  • Immunoglobulin M
  • Peptides
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
  • Vaccines, Subunit
  • spike protein, SARS-CoV-2

Grants and funding

The authors did not receive any specific grant or funds from any funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors, during the research and manuscript preparations.