Development of a multi-epitope spike glycoprotein vaccine to combat SARS-CoV-2 using the bioinformatics approach

• Published in: Journal of pharmacy & pharmacognosy research Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 445 - 458
• Main Authors: Shehzad, Aamir, Sumartono, Christijogo, Nugraha, Jusak, Susilowati, Helen, Wijaya, Andi Yasmin, Ahmad, Hafiz Ishfaq, Kashif, Muhammad, Tyasningsih, Wiwiek, Rantam, Fedik Abdul
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: GarVal Editorial Ltda 01.05.2022
• Subjects: in silico; public health; sars-cov-2; spike protein; tlr3-receptor
• ISSN: 0719-4250; 0719-4250
• DOI: 10.56499/jppres21.1210_10.3.445

Context: The current COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted health and socio-economic status worldwide. The only way to combat this situation is to develop an effective vaccine and immunize people around the globe. Aims: To construct a multi-epitope spike glycoprotein-based vaccine from the SARS-CoV-2 Surabaya isolate using a bioinformatics approach. Methods: The spike protein was submitted to IEDB, VaxiJen, AllerTOP, and ToxinPred webservers to predict antigenic, non-allergic, non-toxic, B- and T-cell epitopes. To develop a multi-epitope vaccine, an adjuvant cholera toxin B subunit was linked to B-cell and B-cell with T-cell through EAAAK and GPGPG linkers, respectively. The designed vaccine 3D structure development, refinement, and validation were done through PHYRE2, Galaxy Refine, and RAMPAGE webservers. Moreover, the Cluspro-2.0 webserver was used for the molecular docking of the vaccine designed with TLR3. The vaccine+TLR3 complex was docked with Surfactant protein A as a control to validate the docking results. Finally, immune-simulation and in silico cloning of the vaccine were carried out by C-ImmSim webserver and SnapGene software, respectively. Results: A multi-epitopic vaccine containing B and T-cell was developed using 392 amino acids with a molecular weight of 40825.59 Da. The docking and immunogenicity results of the vaccine met all established parameters for constructing a quality vaccine. Furthermore, the optimized sequence of the vaccine was successfully cloned in expression vector pET 28 a (+) that yielded a colon of 2724 bp. Conclusions: The vaccine’s immunogenicity demonstrates its effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further confirmatory testing may therefore be performed as soon as possible in the public interest.