Immunoinformatics-guided design of an epitope-based vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike glycoprotein

Rakib, Ahmed; Sami, Saad Ahmed; Mimi, Nusrat Jahan; Chowdhury, Md. Mustafiz; Eva, Taslima Akter; Nainu, Firzan; Paul, Arkajyoti; Shahriar, Asif; Tareq, Abu Montakim; Emon, Nazim Uddin; Chakraborty, Sajal; Shil, Sagar; Mily, Sabrina Jahan; Ben Hadda, Taibi; Almalki, Faisal A.; Emran, Talha Bin

AIMS: With a large number of fatalities, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has greatly affected human health worldwide. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus that causes COVID-19. The World Health Organization has declared a global pandemic of this contagious disease. Researchers across the world are collaborating in a quest for remedies to combat this deadly virus. It has recently been demonstrated that the spike glycoprotein (SGP) of SARS-CoV-2 is the mediator by which the virus enters host cells. MAIN METHODS: Our group comprehensibly analyzed the SGP of SARS-CoV-2 through multiple sequence analysis and a phylogenetic analysis. We predicted the strongest immunogenic epitopes of the SGP for both B cells and T cells. KEY FINDINGS: We focused on predicting peptides that would bind major histocompatibility complex class I. Two optimal epitopes were identified, WTAGAAAYY and GAAAYYVGY. They interact with the HLA-B*15:01 allele, which was further validated by molecular docking simulation. This study also found that the selected epitopes are able to be recognized in a large percentage of the world's population. Furthermore, we predicted CD4(+) T-cell epitopes and B-cell epitopes. SIGNIFICANCE: Our study provides a strong basis for designing vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2. However, laboratory work is required to validate our theoretical results, which would lay the foundation for the appropriate vaccine manufacturing and testing processes.