Spike/ membrane multi-epitope based protein as a future candidate vaccine against sars-cov-۲

Since humans are not immune to SARS-COV-۲, it is urgent to produce vaccines to reduce epidemics andprevent the reappearance of SARS-CoV-۲ and possible variants of this virus. This study aimed to design amultivalent recombinant protein based on SARS-CoV-۲ virus spike and Membrane epitopes associated withHSP۷۰ of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria to evaluate the induced immune response to enhance theimmune response induced by the recombinant SARS-CoV-۲ vaccine. Initially, to select the appropriate strainfor extraction of membrane and viral spike, phylogenetic analysis was performed. Then, based on thefrequency of HLA in the population of Iran and the Middle East, three HLA-A*۰۲:۰۱ and HLA-C*۰۴:۰۱ andHLA-DRB۱*۰۱:۰۱ were selected to predict T cell epitopes. These epitopes were divided into two groups ofGP۱۰۰ and GP۲۰۰ and were connected to HLA-A and HLA-C, and from each group, protein candidates wereselected. Then, two selected proteins, and whole protein HSP۷۰ tuberculosis were attached by suitable linkersand analyzed immunogenicity, antigenicity, the allergenicity of these recombinant proteins, and one proteinwas selected as a final protein candidate. In our laboratory, this triple cassette was cloned into a clone donorand transected into the expression host of Bacillus subtilis. Results: The increase in antibody titer againstSARS-COV-۲ in mice immunized with the recombinant vaccine was significant. Discussion and Conclusion:This achievement shows that an increase in humoral and cellular immune response from the recombinantvaccine of SARS-COV-۲ based on the epitopes can be used as an effective candidate vaccine against thepossible epidemics caused by this Virus and possible variants of this virus.

کلیدواژه ها:

SARS-CoV-۲ ، Immunogenicity ، Antigenicity ، Allergenicity ، Recombinant protein design ، Candidate Vaccine