背景:由SARS-CoV-2引起的2019年冠状病毒病(COVID-19)已成为全球大流行,并在全球范围内造成了最大的危机。为了缓解危机,疫苗的设计是一个至关重要的解决方案。病毒的频繁突变需要广泛的候选疫苗,这对目前所有突变的菌株以及由于病毒中进一步的新突变而进化的菌株都是有效的。
目的:本研究的目的是鉴定更常出现的SARS-CoV-2的突变变体,并提出对所考虑的病毒株有效的肽疫苗候选物。
方法:在本研究中,我们已经通过二维极坐标图和商半径(q_R)表征描述符确定了所有目前流行的SARS-CoV-2突变株。然后,通过考虑前八种突变菌株,由于它们的发生频率,适合于疫苗设计的肽区域已经在数学模型的帮助下确定-2D多边形表示,然后评估表位潜力,并确保没有任何自身免疫威胁的情况。最后,为了验证整个方法是否适用于一般针对任何其他病毒的疫苗设计,我们对使用当前方法为寨卡病毒开出的候选肽疫苗和过去已经建立的潜在候选疫苗进行了比较研究.
结果:我们最后提出了三个通用肽区域,其适合作为抗SARS-CoV-2的可持续肽疫苗候选物,而不管其当前流行的菌株以及将来可能出现的相同的任何其它变体。我们还观察到,在使用寨卡病毒E蛋白病例的比较研究中,肽区域建议使用新方法与已经建立的结果相匹配。
结论:这项研究,因此,说明了一种方法,该方法将有助于开发针对SARS-CoV-2的肽疫苗,通过提出可以靶向的那些肽区域,而与该病毒的任何突变形式无关。整个方法的一致性也能够以最大的准确性找出寨卡病毒的类似疫苗候选物,证明该方案可以扩展用于将来针对任何其他病毒的肽疫苗设计。
BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 has become a worldwide pandemic and created an utmost crisis across the globe. To mitigate the crisis, the design of vaccines is a crucial solution. The frequent mutation of the virus demands generalized vaccine candidates, which would be effective for all mutated strains at present and for the strains that would evolve due to further new mutations in the virus.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to identify more frequently occurring mutated variants of SARS-CoV-2 and to suggest peptide vaccine candidates effective in common against the viral strains considered.
METHODS: In this study, we have identified all currently prevailing mutated strains of SARS-CoV-2 through 2D Polar plot and Quotient Radius〖(q〗_R) characterization descriptor. Then, by considering the top eight mutation strains, which are significant due to their frequency of occurrence, peptide regions suitable for vaccine design have been identified with the help of a mathematical model - 2D Polygon Representation, followed by the evaluation of epitope potential and ensuring that there is no case of any autoimmune threat. Lastly, in order to verify whether this entire approach is applicable for vaccine design against any other virus in general, we have made a comparative study between the peptide vaccine candidates prescribed for the Zika virus using the current approach and a list of potential vaccine candidates for the same already established in the past.
RESULTS: We have finally suggested three generalized peptide regions which would be suitable as sustainable peptide vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2 irrespective of its currently prevailing strains as well any other variant of the same that may appear in the future. We also observed that during the comparative study using the case of E protein of Zika virus, the peptide regions suggested using the new approach matched with the already established results.
CONCLUSIONS: The study, therefore, illustrates an approach that would help in developing peptide vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 by suggesting those peptide regions which can be targeted irrespective of any mutated form of this virus. The consistency with which this entire approach was also able to figure out similar vaccine candidates for Zika virus with utmost accuracy proves that this protocol can be extended for peptide vaccine design against any other virus in the future.