Candidate targets for immune responses to 2019-Novel Coronavirus (nCoV): sequence homology- and bioinformatic-based predictions

Alba Grifoni; John Sidney; Yun Zhang; Richard H Scheuermann; Bjoern Peters; Alessandro Sette

The immune response to 2019-nCoV in humans awaits characterization, but human immune responses against other coronaviruses have been investigated. As of January 27, 2020, the IEDB has curated 581 linear, and 81 as discontinuous, B cell epitopes that have been reported in the peer reviewed literature. In addition, 320 peptides have been reported as T cell epitopes ( Table 1A) . The vast majority of these epitopes are derived from Betacoronavirues, and more specifically from SARS-CoV, which alone accounts for over 60% of them. In terms of the host in which the various B and T cell epitopes were recognized (Table 1B) , most epitopes (either B or T) were defined in humans or murine systems. Notably, all but two of the 417 B and T cell epitopes described in humans are from Betacoronaviruses, with 398 of them coming from SARS-CoV.