tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Biomol Struct Dyn
. 2022 May 13;1-22.
doi: 10.1080/07391102.2022.2075468. Online ahead of print.
Reverse vaccinology-based prediction of a multi-epitope SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and its tailoring to new coronavirus variants
Wahiba Ezzemani[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Anass Kettani[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Subrahmanyam Sappati[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Kavya Kondaka[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Hicham El Ossmani[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Haya Altawalah[SUP] 7 8 [/SUP], Rachid Saile[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michinori Kohara[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Soumaya Benjelloun[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sayeh Ezzikouri[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
The genome feature of SARS-CoV-2 leads the virus to mutate and creates new variants of concern. Tackling viral mutations is also an important challenge for the development of a new vaccine. Accordingly, in the present study, we undertook to identify B- and T-cell epitopes with immunogenic potential for eliciting responses to SARS-CoV-2, using computational approaches and its tailoring to coronavirus variants. A total of 47 novel epitopes were identified as immunogenic triggering immune responses and no toxic after investigation with in silico tools. Furthermore, we found these peptide vaccine candidates showed a significant binding affinity for MHC I and MHC II alleles in molecular docking investigations. We consider them to be promising targets for developing peptide-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Subsequently, we designed two efficient multi-epitopes vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2, the first one based on potent MHC class I and class II T-cell epitopes of S (FPNITNLCPF-NYNYLYRLFR-MFVFLVLLPLVSSQC), M (MWLSYFIASF-GLMWLSYFIASFRLF), E (LTALRLCAY-LLFLAFVVFLLVTLA), and N (SPRWYFYYL-AQFAPSASAFFGMSR). The second candidate is the result of the tailoring of the first designed vaccine according to three classes of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Molecular docking showed that the protein-protein binding interactions between the vaccines construct and TLR2-TLR4 immune receptors are stable complexes. These findings confirmed that the final multi-epitope vaccine could be easily adapted to new viral variants. Our study offers a shortlist of promising epitopes that can accelerate the development of an effective and safe vaccine against the virus and its adaptation to new variants.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
Keywords: COVID-19; MM-PBSA/MM-GBSA analysis; SARS-CoV-2 variants; molecular docking; multi-epitopes vaccines.
. 2022 May 13;1-22.
doi: 10.1080/07391102.2022.2075468. Online ahead of print.
Reverse vaccinology-based prediction of a multi-epitope SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and its tailoring to new coronavirus variants
Wahiba Ezzemani[SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Anass Kettani[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Subrahmanyam Sappati[SUP] 3 4 [/SUP], Kavya Kondaka[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Hicham El Ossmani[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Kyoko Tsukiyama-Kohara[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Haya Altawalah[SUP] 7 8 [/SUP], Rachid Saile[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Michinori Kohara[SUP] 9 [/SUP], Soumaya Benjelloun[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Sayeh Ezzikouri[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 35549819
- DOI: 10.1080/07391102.2022.2075468
Abstract
The genome feature of SARS-CoV-2 leads the virus to mutate and creates new variants of concern. Tackling viral mutations is also an important challenge for the development of a new vaccine. Accordingly, in the present study, we undertook to identify B- and T-cell epitopes with immunogenic potential for eliciting responses to SARS-CoV-2, using computational approaches and its tailoring to coronavirus variants. A total of 47 novel epitopes were identified as immunogenic triggering immune responses and no toxic after investigation with in silico tools. Furthermore, we found these peptide vaccine candidates showed a significant binding affinity for MHC I and MHC II alleles in molecular docking investigations. We consider them to be promising targets for developing peptide-based vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Subsequently, we designed two efficient multi-epitopes vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2, the first one based on potent MHC class I and class II T-cell epitopes of S (FPNITNLCPF-NYNYLYRLFR-MFVFLVLLPLVSSQC), M (MWLSYFIASF-GLMWLSYFIASFRLF), E (LTALRLCAY-LLFLAFVVFLLVTLA), and N (SPRWYFYYL-AQFAPSASAFFGMSR). The second candidate is the result of the tailoring of the first designed vaccine according to three classes of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Molecular docking showed that the protein-protein binding interactions between the vaccines construct and TLR2-TLR4 immune receptors are stable complexes. These findings confirmed that the final multi-epitope vaccine could be easily adapted to new viral variants. Our study offers a shortlist of promising epitopes that can accelerate the development of an effective and safe vaccine against the virus and its adaptation to new variants.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.
Keywords: COVID-19; MM-PBSA/MM-GBSA analysis; SARS-CoV-2 variants; molecular docking; multi-epitopes vaccines.