Engineering a multi epitope vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 by exploiting its non structural and structural proteins

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent behind the ongoing pandemic exhibits an enhanced potential for infection when compared to its related family members- the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV; which have caused similar disease outbreaks in the past. The severity of the global health burden, increasing mortality rate and the emergent economic crisis urgently demands the development of next generation vaccines. Amongst such emergent next generation vaccines are the multi-epitope subunit vaccines, which hold promise in combating deadly pathogens. In this study we have exploited immunoinformatics applications to delineate a vaccine candidate possessing multiple B and T cells epitopes by utilizing the SARS-CoV-2 non structural and structural proteins. The antigenicity potential, safety, structural stability and the production feasibility of the designed construct was evaluated computationally. Furthermore, due to the known role of human TLR-3 immune receptor in viral sensing, which facilitates host cells activation for an immune response, the vaccine construct was examined for its binding efficiency using molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulation studies, which resulted in strong and stable interactions. Finally, the immune simulation studies suggested an effective immune response on vaccine administration. Overall, the immunoinformatics analysis advocates that the proposed vaccine candidate is safe and immunogenic and therefore can be pushed as a lead for in vitro and in vivo investigations.

Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma

Keywords:

• SARS-COV-2
• immunoinformatics
• multi-epitope
• vaccine
• docking
• MD simulation

Acknowledgements

VSR is thankful to Dept. of Health Research (Govt. of India) for the young scientist fellowship (No. 12014/13/2018-HR/E-Office: 3151268). RS and AK are contended to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India for the SRF position. AG is thankful to University Grant Commission, India for the faculty Recharge position. NV is thankful to DST Inspire fellowship for research grant.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicting interests.

Data availability statement

All datasets generated for this report are included in the article/Supplementary Material.

Contributions

VSR conceptualized and visualized the whole study. VSR and RS designed and conducted all the studies pertaining to epitope identification and selection. AK carried out the structure generation, in silico docking and MD studies. NV assisted in data curation and manuscript writing. VP guided the study and reviewed the manuscript. AG managed resources and reviewed the manuscript. VSR revised the manuscript after peer review. All authors read and approved the manuscript.