The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID19 / Wuhan coronavirus), officially named as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA coronavirus. SARS-CoV-2 causes the contagious COVID19 disease also known as 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease and has led to the ongoing 2019–20 pandemic COVID19 outbreak. The effective countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2 infection requires the design and development of specific and effective vaccine candidate. In the present study we have screened 38 CTL, 42 HTL and 12 B cell epitopes by utilizing different in silico tools. The screened epitopes were further validated for their binding with their respective HLA allele binders and ... More
The 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID19 / Wuhan coronavirus), officially named as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA coronavirus. SARS-CoV-2 causes the contagious COVID19 disease also known as 2019-nCoV acute respiratory disease and has led to the ongoing 2019–20 pandemic COVID19 outbreak. The effective countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2 infection requires the design and development of specific and effective vaccine candidate. In the present study we have screened 38 CTL, 42 HTL and 12 B cell epitopes by utilizing different in silico tools. The screened epitopes were further validated for their binding with their respective HLA allele binders and TAP (Transporter associated with antigen processing) molecule by molecular docking. The screened epitopes were further utilized to design novel two multi-epitope vaccines (MEVs) composed of CTL, HTL and B cell epitopes overlaps with potential to elicit humoral as well as cellular immune response against SARS-CoV-2. To enhance the immune response for our vaccine design, truncated (residues 10-153) Onchocerca volvulus activation-associated secreted protein-1 (Ov-ASP-1) has been utilized as an adjuvant at N terminal of both the MEVs. Further molecular models for both the MEVs were prepared and validated for their stable molecular interaction with Toll-Like Receptor 3 (TLR 3). The codon-optimized cDNA of both the MEVs were further analyzed for their potential of high level of expression in Human cell line. The present study proposes in-silico validated design of two MEVs against SARS-CoV-2 to elicit humoral as well as cellular immune response.
