tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
J Infect Dis
. 2021 Jun 18;jiab324.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab324. Online ahead of print.
Large-scale identification of T cell epitopes derived from SARS-CoV-2 for the development of peptide vaccines against COVID-19
Yipeng Ma[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Fenglan Liu[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Tong Lin[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Lei Chen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Aixin Jiang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Geng Tian[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Morten Nielsen[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Mingjun Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) continues to be a major public health challenge globally. The identification of SARS-CoV-2-derived T cell epitopes is of critical importance for peptide vaccines or diagnostic tools of COVID-19.
Methods: In this study, a number of SARS-CoV-2-derived HLA-I binding peptides were predicted by NetMHCpan-4.1 and selected by Popcover to achieve pancoverage of the Chinese population. The top 5 ranked peptides derived from each protein of SARS-CoV-2 were then evaluated using PBMCs from unexposed individuals (negative for SARS-CoV-2 IgG).
Results: Seven epitopes derived from 4 SARS-CoV-2 proteins were identified. Interestingly, most (5 out of 7) of the SARS-CoV-2-derived peptides with predicted affinities for HLA-I molecules were identified as HLA-II-restricted epitopes and induced CD4+ T cell-dependent responses. These results complete missing pieces of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells and suggest that pre-existing T cells targeting all SARS-CoV-2-encoded proteins can be discovered in unexposed populations.
Conclusions: In summary, in the current study, we present an alternative and effective strategy for the identification of T cell epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in healthy subjects, which may indicate an important role in the development of peptide vaccines for COVID-19.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; T cell epitopes; pre-existing T cells; uninfected individuals.
. 2021 Jun 18;jiab324.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab324. Online ahead of print.
Large-scale identification of T cell epitopes derived from SARS-CoV-2 for the development of peptide vaccines against COVID-19
Yipeng Ma[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Fenglan Liu[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Tong Lin[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Lei Chen[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Aixin Jiang[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Geng Tian[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Morten Nielsen[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Mingjun Wang[SUP] 1 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 34145459
- DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jiab324
Abstract
Background: Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) continues to be a major public health challenge globally. The identification of SARS-CoV-2-derived T cell epitopes is of critical importance for peptide vaccines or diagnostic tools of COVID-19.
Methods: In this study, a number of SARS-CoV-2-derived HLA-I binding peptides were predicted by NetMHCpan-4.1 and selected by Popcover to achieve pancoverage of the Chinese population. The top 5 ranked peptides derived from each protein of SARS-CoV-2 were then evaluated using PBMCs from unexposed individuals (negative for SARS-CoV-2 IgG).
Results: Seven epitopes derived from 4 SARS-CoV-2 proteins were identified. Interestingly, most (5 out of 7) of the SARS-CoV-2-derived peptides with predicted affinities for HLA-I molecules were identified as HLA-II-restricted epitopes and induced CD4+ T cell-dependent responses. These results complete missing pieces of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells and suggest that pre-existing T cells targeting all SARS-CoV-2-encoded proteins can be discovered in unexposed populations.
Conclusions: In summary, in the current study, we present an alternative and effective strategy for the identification of T cell epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 in healthy subjects, which may indicate an important role in the development of peptide vaccines for COVID-19.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2; T cell epitopes; pre-existing T cells; uninfected individuals.