Epitope-Based Vaccine Design against Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 Envelope Protein

Özet

Objectives: The outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people with a large number of deaths across 200 countries. The sudden appearance of the virus leads to the limited existing therapies for SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, vaccines and antiviral medicines are in desperate need. Methods: This study took immune-informatics approaches to identify B- and T-cell epitopes for envelope membrane protein (E) of SARS-CoV-2, followed by estimating their antigenicity and interactions with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles. Results: We identified three B cell epitopes (“NSSRVPD”, “SRVKNLNSSRV”, “SRVPDLLV”), two MHC class-I (“FLLVTLAIL”, “VSLVKPSFY”) and one MHC class-II binding T-cell epitopes (“LLFLAFVVFLLVTLA”), which showed highly antigenic features. Allergenicity, toxicity and physicochemical properties analysis confirmed the specificity and selectivity of epitopes. The stability and safety of epitopes were confirmed by digestion analysis. Conclusion: Epitopes were thus identified and some of them can be potential candidates for vaccine development.