Immune and bioinformatics identification of T cell and B cell epitopes in the protein structure of SARS-CoV-2: A systematic review

Int Immunopharmacol. 2020 Sep:86:106738. doi: 10.1016/j.intimp.2020.106738. Epub 2020 Jun 28.

Abstract

The beginning of 2020 was marked as the emergence of a COVID-19 outbreak caused by a new coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Currently, there is no vaccine or approved treatment for this infectious virus so the invention of an efficient vaccine is certainly a high priority. Some studies have employed several techniques to facilitate the combination of the immunoinformatics approach and comparative genomic approach in order to determine the potential peptides for designing the T-cell epitope-based peptide vaccine using the 2019-nCoV envelope protein as a target. Via screening the bioimmunoinformatic SARS-CoV2 derived B-cell and T-cell epitopes within the basic immunogenic of SARS-CoV2 proteins, we presented a set of inferred B-cell and T-cell epitopes from the spike (S) and nucleocapsid (N) proteins with high antigenicity and without allergenic property or toxic effects. Our findings provide a screened set of epitopes that can be introduced as potential targets for developing peptide vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Keywords: B-cell epitopes; Bioinformatics; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; T-cell epitopes.

Publication types

  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus / immunology*
  • COVID-19
  • Computational Biology
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology
  • Coronavirus Infections / immunology
  • Coronavirus Infections / prevention & control*
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology
  • Drug Development / methods
  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Humans
  • Nucleocapsid Proteins / immunology*
  • Pandemics / prevention & control*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology
  • Pneumonia, Viral / immunology
  • Pneumonia, Viral / prevention & control*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus / immunology*
  • Vaccines, Subunit / immunology
  • Vaccines, Subunit / therapeutic use
  • Viral Vaccines / immunology*
  • Viral Vaccines / therapeutic use

Substances

  • Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
  • Nucleocapsid Proteins
  • Spike Glycoprotein, Coronavirus
  • Vaccines, Subunit
  • Viral Vaccines
  • spike protein, SARS-CoV-2