Preliminary identification of potential vaccine targets for the COVID-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) based on SARS-CoV immunological studies

Syed Faraz Ahmed; Ahmed A. Quadeer; Matthew R. McKay

This study has sought to assist with the initial phase of vaccine development, by providing recommendations of epitopes that may potentially be considered for incorporation in subunit vaccine designs. Despite having limited understanding of how the human immune system responds naturally to SARS-CoV-2, these epitopes are motivated by their responses that they have recorded in SARS-CoV (or, for the case of T cell epitopes, to at least confer MHC binding), and the fact that they map identically to SARS-CoV-2, based on the available sequence data (as of 9 February 2020). The identical map between SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, and the absence of any mutation in the identified epitopes among the available SARS-CoV-2 sequences (as of 9 February 2020), suggests their potential for eliciting a robust T cell or antibody response in SARS-CoV-2.