Structure-guided design of multi-epitopes vaccine against variants of concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2 and validation through In silico cloning and immune simulations

Fahad Humayun; Yutong Cai; Abbas Khan; Syed Ali Farhan; Fatima Khan; Usman Ishrat Rana; Anum Binte Qamar; Nasim Fawad; Shazia Shamas; Dongqing-Wei

doi:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.105122

Structure-guided design of multi-epitopes vaccine against variants of concern (VOCs) of SARS-CoV-2 and validation through In silico cloning and immune simulations

Comput Biol Med. 2022 Jan:140:105122. doi: 10.1016/j.compbiomed.2021.105122. Epub 2021 Dec 7.

Authors

Fahad Humayun¹, Yutong Cai², Abbas Khan³, Syed Ali Farhan⁴, Fatima Khan⁵, Usman Ishrat Rana⁶, Anum Binte Qamar⁷, Nasim Fawad⁸, Shazia Shamas⁹, Dongqing-Wei¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai-Islamabad-Belgrade Joint Innovation Center on Antibacterial Resistances, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Shenzhen College of International Education 3, Antuoshan 6 Road, Futian, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai-Islamabad-Belgrade Joint Innovation Center on Antibacterial Resistances, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Department of Bioinformatics and Biotechnology, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ National Institute of Health, Islamabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Department of Radiology, General Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁷ Department of Biosciences and Bioinformatics, COMSATS University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁸ Poultry Research Institute, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁹ Department of Zoology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan. Electronic address: [email protected].
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai-Islamabad-Belgrade Joint Innovation Center on Antibacterial Resistances, Joint International Research Laboratory of Metabolic & Developmental Sciences and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200030, PR China; Peng Cheng National Laboratory, Vanke Cloud City Phase I Building 8, Xili Street, Nashan District, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, PR China. Electronic address: [email protected].

Abstract

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corovirus2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been determined to be the cause of the current pandemic. Typical symptoms of patient having COVID-19 are fever, runny nose, cough (dry or not) and dyspnea. Several vaccines are available in markets that are tackling current pandemic. Many different strains of SAR-CoV-2 have been evolved with the passage of time. The emergence of VOCs particularly the B.1.351 ("South African") variant of SARS-CoV-2 has been reported to be more resistant than other SARS-CoV-2 strains to the current vaccines. Thus, the current research is focused to design multi-epitope subunit Vaccine (MEV) using structural vaccinology techniques. As a result, the designed MEV exhibit antigenic properties and possess therapeutic features that can trigger an immunological response against COVID-19. Furthermore, validation of the MEV using immune simulation and in silico cloning revealed that the proposed vaccine candidate effectively triggered the immune response. Conclusively, the developed MEV needs further wet lab exploration and could be a viable vaccine to manage and prevent COVID-19.

Keywords: Immune simulation; In silico cloning; Multi-epitope subunit vaccine; SARS-CoV-2; Structural vaccinology.