ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

Minerva Biotechnology and Biomolecular Research 2021 March;33(1):36-42

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-542X.20.02652-X

Copyright © 2020 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Prediction of B- and T-cell epitopes using in-silico approaches: a solution to the development of recombinant vaccines against COVID-19

Hassan DARIUSHNEJAD ^{1, 2}, Vajihe GHORBANZADEH ², Pejman HASHEMZADEH ^{1, 2} ✉

¹ Department of Medical Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran; ² Razi Herbal Medicines Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

BACKGROUND: The novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV-2, or COVID-19) is a recent type of RNA virus. The disease caused by the coronavirus, called COVID-19, was first identified in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 is a new virus and is related to families of viruses such as acute respiratory syndrome and other common colds. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. In more severe cases, the infection can lead to pneumonia, kidney failure and in some cases the disease will be fatal. There is currently no known treatment for the virus. However, in-silico approaches help produce efficient novel vaccine in a short time and at low cost compared with previous methods.
METHODS: In this study, immunoinformatics tools was used to predict MHC-I, MHC-II, CTL and B-cell epitopes of spike protein and envelope protein of SARS-CoV-2 that could be appropriate to trigger immune system response. We identified potential epitopes against SARS-CoV-2 that could potentially stimulate both T-cell and B-cell immune system response with increased effective potential due to the presence of MHC-I, MHC-II, CTL and B-cell epitopes. Immunoformatics tools were used to physicochemical property analysis of the protein sequences and detect highly antigenic, non-toxin, non-allergen and highly immunogenic MHC-I, MHC-II, CTL and B-cell epitopes of the spike protein and envelope protein of the 2019-nCoV was performed in ProtParam, ANTIGENpro, ToxinPred, AlgPred, IEDB, RANKPEP, CTLpred and BepiPred servers. The safety and stability of epitopes were analyzed for the binding potential with the Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) alleles using FireDock and Patch dock tools.
RESULTS: Based on the results, the best epitopes were selected. Selected epitopes may be used as target candidates in recombinant vaccines to combat COVID-19 virus.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings are likely to help develop the recombinant vaccine against COVID-19 disease.

KEY WORDS: Severe acute respiratory syndrome; Coronavirus; COVID-19; Molecular docking simulation