Identification of B-cell epitopes for eliciting neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein through bioinformatics and monoclonal antibody targeting

Lim, Hui Xuan * and Masomian, Malihe * and Kumar, Asqwin Uthaya and MacAry, Paul A. and Poh, Chit Laa * (2022) Identification of B-cell epitopes for eliciting neutralizing antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein through bioinformatics and monoclonal antibody targeting. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23 (8). p. 4341. ISSN 1422-0067

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Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global public health crisis. Effective COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Astra Zeneca have made significant impacts in controlling the COVID-19 burden, especially in reducing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalization incidences. In view of the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, vaccines developed against the Wuhan strain were less effective against the variants. Neutralizing antibodies produced by B cells are a critical component of adaptive immunity, particularly in neutralizing viruses by blocking virus attachment and entry into cells. Therefore, the identification of protective linear B-cell epitopes can guide epitope-based peptide designs. This study reviews the identification of SARS-CoV-2 B-cell epitopes within the spike, membrane and nucleocapsid proteins that can be incorporated as potent B-cell epitopes into peptide vaccine constructs. The bioinformatic approach offers a new in silico strategy for the mapping and identification of potential B-cell epitopes and, upon in vivo validation, would be useful for the rapid development of effective multi-epitope-based vaccines. Potent B-cell epitopes were identified from the analysis of three-dimensional structures of monoclonal antibodies in a complex with SARS-CoV-2 from literature mining. This review provides significant insights into the elicitation of potential neutralizing antibodies by potent B-cell epitopes, which could advance the development of multiepitope peptide vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.

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