1st International and 10th National Iranian Conference on Bioinformatics
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A multi-epitope vaccine design to target SARS-CoV-2 employing an in silico approach
Paper ID : 1199-ICB10
Authors:
Hamid Reza Rasouli Jazi *
Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Malek Ashtar University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Abstract:
The Covid-19 pandemic started in 2019 and has become a threat to human health with its rapid spread worldwide. Despite advances in the field of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, the effectiveness of existing vaccines against new variants of the virus is in doubt, and repeated booster doses are needed to maintain antibody levels at an adequate level. Here, we used structural proteins S, M, E, and N as appropriate candidate targets to develop a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. We analyzed these proteins to find analogs and conserve domains in different SARS-CoV-2 variants. We used various immunoinformatics tools to predict different T and B lymphocyte epitopes in conserved regions of target proteins. We performed analyses to select the best epitopes based on allergenicity, antigenicity, physicochemical properties, and toxicity. Six RNA fragments were built and linked in a specific order with linkers. We predict the tertiary structure of epitopes and implied dockings with corresponding MCH to evaluate binding affinities. Our results suggest a multiepitope vaccine against different variants' converse regions of SARS-CoV-2 proteins.
Keywords:
Covid-19, SARS-CoV-2, multiepitope vaccine, in silico vaccine design, immunoinformatics
Status : Paper Accepted (Poster Presentation)