Identification of a promiscuous conserved CTL epitope within the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
Sheng JiangShuting WuGan ZhaoYue HeXinrong GuoZhiyu ZhangJiawang HouYuan DingAlex ChengBin WangPublished in: Emerging microbes & infections (2022)
ABSTRACT The COVID-19 disease caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2 and its variants is devastating to the global public health and economy. To date, over a hundred COVID-19 vaccines are known to be under development, and the few that have been approved to fight the disease are using the spike protein as the primary target antigen. Although virus-neutralizing epitopes are mainly located within the RBD of the spike protein, the presence of T cell epitopes, particularly the CTL epitopes that are likely to be needed for killing infected cells, has received comparatively little attention. This study predicted several potential T cell epitopes with web-based analytic tools and narrowed them down from several potential MHC-I and MHC-II epitopes by ELIspot and cytolytic assays to a conserved MHC-I epitope. The epitope is highly conserved in current viral variants and compatible with a presentation by most HLA alleles worldwide. In conclusion, we identified a CTL epitope suitable for evaluating the CD8+ T cell-mediated cellular response and potentially for addition into future COVID-19 vaccine candidates to maximize CTL responses against SARS-CoV-2.
Keyphrases
- sars cov
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- public health
- monoclonal antibody
- transcription factor
- protein protein
- amino acid
- coronavirus disease
- copy number
- working memory
- binding protein
- small molecule
- high throughput
- risk assessment
- zika virus
- gene expression
- case report
- current status
- single cell
- signaling pathway
- cell proliferation