The rapid transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. It has severely affected the economy and the healthcare system in many countries, making it crucial to accelerate vaccine development against SARS-CoV-2. Thus, this work utilized immunoinformatics in designing a novel multi-epitope vaccine that can potentially induce immune response through mapped epitopes from immunogenic, and abundantly expressed structural proteins in SARS-CoV-2. Epitopes were screened and evaluated using various immunoinformatics tools and databases. Antigenicity, allergenicity, and population coverage were assessed. Epitopes were adjoined to form a single vaccine construct (Cvax), linked with 50S ribosomal protein as an adjuvant. Physicochemical properties, cross-reactivity, antigenicity, and allergenicity of Cvax were evaluated. The tertiary structure of Cvax was modeled, refined, and validated for docking with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). The binding affinity of Cvax-TLR4 was estimated and compared with TLR4-adjuvant as control. Lastly, the immune response with Cvax was simulated, and compared with adjuvant alone. A total of 33 epitopes from S (21), E (3), M (5), and N (4) proteins were merged in Cvax. These include epitopes on the receptor-binding motif (RBM) of S protein known to be essential in viral attachment. In silico evaluations classified Cvax as stable, antigenic, and non-allergenic. Epitopes were estimated to have large worldwide population coverage, especially in areas with high infection rates, indicating the broader efficacy of Cvax as a vaccine for the most affected populations. Results in this work showed that Cvax can bind to TLR4, indicating immunogenicity, and superior properties necessary for a successful vaccine. Overall, this work efficiently minimized time, effort, and cost in urgently designing a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. In vitro and in vivo studies on Cvax are anticipated.
ISSN 2719-1990 (Print)
Philippine E-Journals
