Computational Design of a Candidate Vaccine to Increase Immune Responses against Omicron SARS-CoV-۲ variant

Background: SARS-CoV-۲ has been emerging in the form of different variants since its first emergence in۲۰۱۹. A new Variant named the Omicron variant was reported. This variant has many mutations in the Spike,membrane, envelope, and nucleocapsid proteins. Immuno-informatics tools are cost-effective methods toaccelerate the design of a suitable candidate vaccine against Omicron variant. The employment of vaccineshas been demonstrated to be a promising immunization approach against viruses due to the induction of longtermprotective immunity.Methods: In the study, a computational approach was conducted to design a vaccine composed of cytotoxicT lymphocyte and helper T lymphocyte epitopes of Spike and Envelope proteins. The potential viral peptidesas the candidate vaccine were screened regarding convenient features like hydrophilicity, flexibility, andantigenicity. The final assembled construct was fused with the assistance of suitable linkers and cloned in apET۲۸a expression vector for the production of the vaccine in a bacterial host.Results: After validation of the final construct in terms of its efficacy, stability, and exposure ability,molecular docking analysis was carried out to reveal its interaction with toll-like receptor ۴. The molecularsimulations by iMODS software confirmed the stability of the binding interface. Additionally, thecomputational cloning of the assembled vaccine in pET۲۸a plasmid showed the possibility of producing avaccine construct in E. coli.Conclusion: The computational analysis showed that this construct could be a potent vaccine candidateagainst Omicron SARS-CoV-۲ variant once its effectiveness is verified by experimental studies.

کلیدواژه ها:

Immuno-informatics ، Vaccine ، Envelope protein ، Omicron SARS-CoV-۲ variant ، Spike protein