Identification of a promiscuous conserved CTL epitope within the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.
Sheng Jiang, Shuting Wu, Gan Zhao, Yue He, Xinrong Guo, Zhiyu Zhang, Jiawang Hou, Yuan Ding, Alex Cheng, Bin Wang
Author Information
Sheng Jiang: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College (SHMC), Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Shuting Wu: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College (SHMC), Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Gan Zhao: Advaccine Biopharmaceutics (Suzhou) Co. LTD, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China.
Alex Cheng: Advaccine Biopharmaceutics (Suzhou) Co. LTD, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China.
Bin Wang: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOE/NHC/CAMS), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College (SHMC), Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China. ORCID
The COVID-19 disease caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2 and its variants is devastating to the global public health and economy. To date, over a hundred COVID-19 vaccines are known to be under development, and the few that have been approved to fight the disease are using the spike protein as the primary target antigen. Although virus-neutralizing epitopes are mainly located within the RBD of the spike protein, the presence of T cell epitopes, particularly the CTL epitopes that are likely to be needed for killing infected cells, has received comparatively little attention. This study predicted several potential T cell epitopes with web-based analytic tools and narrowed them down from several potential MHC-I and MHC-II epitopes by ELIspot and cytolytic assays to a conserved MHC-I epitope. The epitope is highly conserved in current viral variants and compatible with a presentation by most HLA alleles worldwide. In conclusion, we identified a CTL epitope suitable for evaluating the CD8+ T cell-mediated cellular response and potentially for addition into future COVID-19 vaccine candidates to maximize CTL responses against SARS-CoV-2.
