tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Emerg Microbes Infect
. 2026 Feb 11:2631206.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2026.2631206. Online ahead of print.
Receptor binding domain-independent pancoronavirus vaccine design by fusion of conserved T/B Epitopes
Yunru Yang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yetian Chen[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Mengyu Hong[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Ronghua Zou[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Jingxue Yao[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Entao Li[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Jiayi Wang[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Xiaodong Ye[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Yixiang Xing[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Yangming Tang[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Xiaojie Lu[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Chengchao Ding[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hongliang He[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Dali Tong[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Yuhua Shang[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jian Wang[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Guangyu Zhao[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Xiaoxue Huang[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Fuli Feng[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Qingyu Cheng[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Bofeng Li[SUP] 1 5 [/SUP], Baoying Huang[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Wenjie Tan[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Sandra Chiu[SUP] 5 10 14 [/SUP], Tengchuan Jin[SUP] 1 2 3 4 5 14 15 16 [/SUP]
Affiliations
The persistent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants continues to compromise current vaccine efficacy, driving the development of broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccines to address variant evasion and future outbreaks. To develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine, we identified some conserved T/B epitopes across spike proteins of human-infecting coronaviruses, focusing on two conserved long peptides, VV and VS, which demonstrated broad immunogenicity in PBMCs from COVID-19 convalescent patients. By structurally fusing the VV and VS long peptides with heptad repeat 1/2 (HR1/2) domains from the S2 subunit, we engineered a trimeric immunogen HR1-VV-HR2-VS. This design induced superior cellular and humoral immune responses compared to individual peptide components in immunized mice. The vaccine also significantly reduced viral loads and attenuated lung pathology in mice challenged with HCoV-229E, SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain, and the KP.2 variant, demonstrating cross-protective immunity. Therefore, these results indicated that HR1-VV-HR2-VS vaccine elicits cross-protective immunity, highlighting its potential as a universal coronavirus vaccine. In addition, we developed an innovative peptide vaccine platform based on the HR1-HR2 trimeric structural protein, which serves as a potent polypeptide fusion scaffold to significantly enhance peptide immunogenicity.
Keywords: Cross-protective; Epitopes; Fusion protein; Pancoronavirus; Vaccine.
. 2026 Feb 11:2631206.
doi: 10.1080/22221751.2026.2631206. Online ahead of print.
Receptor binding domain-independent pancoronavirus vaccine design by fusion of conserved T/B Epitopes
Yunru Yang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Yetian Chen[SUP] 2 3 [/SUP], Mengyu Hong[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Ronghua Zou[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Jingxue Yao[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Entao Li[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Jiayi Wang[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Xiaodong Ye[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Yixiang Xing[SUP] 7 [/SUP], Yangming Tang[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Xiaojie Lu[SUP] 8 [/SUP], Chengchao Ding[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Hongliang He[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Dali Tong[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Yuhua Shang[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jian Wang[SUP] 10 [/SUP], Guangyu Zhao[SUP] 11 [/SUP], Xiaoxue Huang[SUP] 2 4 [/SUP], Fuli Feng[SUP] 12 [/SUP], Qingyu Cheng[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Bofeng Li[SUP] 1 5 [/SUP], Baoying Huang[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Wenjie Tan[SUP] 13 [/SUP], Sandra Chiu[SUP] 5 10 14 [/SUP], Tengchuan Jin[SUP] 1 2 3 4 5 14 15 16 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 41672103
- DOI: 10.1080/22221751.2026.2631206
The persistent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants continues to compromise current vaccine efficacy, driving the development of broad-spectrum coronavirus vaccines to address variant evasion and future outbreaks. To develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine, we identified some conserved T/B epitopes across spike proteins of human-infecting coronaviruses, focusing on two conserved long peptides, VV and VS, which demonstrated broad immunogenicity in PBMCs from COVID-19 convalescent patients. By structurally fusing the VV and VS long peptides with heptad repeat 1/2 (HR1/2) domains from the S2 subunit, we engineered a trimeric immunogen HR1-VV-HR2-VS. This design induced superior cellular and humoral immune responses compared to individual peptide components in immunized mice. The vaccine also significantly reduced viral loads and attenuated lung pathology in mice challenged with HCoV-229E, SARS-CoV-2 prototype strain, and the KP.2 variant, demonstrating cross-protective immunity. Therefore, these results indicated that HR1-VV-HR2-VS vaccine elicits cross-protective immunity, highlighting its potential as a universal coronavirus vaccine. In addition, we developed an innovative peptide vaccine platform based on the HR1-HR2 trimeric structural protein, which serves as a potent polypeptide fusion scaffold to significantly enhance peptide immunogenicity.
Keywords: Cross-protective; Epitopes; Fusion protein; Pancoronavirus; Vaccine.