Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan 26;34(4):108666.
doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108666.

The immunodominant and neutralization linear epitopes for SARS-CoV-2

Shuai Lu  1 , Xi-Xiu Xie  1 , Lei Zhao  2 , Bin Wang  1 , Jie Zhu  1 , Ting-Rui Yang  1 , Guang-Wen Yang  3 , Mei Ji  4 , Cui-Ping Lv  4 , Jian Xue  2 , Er-Hei Dai  2 , Xi-Ming Fu  5 , Dong-Qun Liu  4 , Lun Zhang  4 , Sheng-Jie Hou  4 , Xiao-Lin Yu  1 , Yu-Ling Wang  2 , Hui-Xia Gao  2 , Xue-Han Shi  2 , Chang-Wen Ke  6 , Bi-Xia Ke  6 , Chun-Guo Jiang  7 , Rui-Tian Liu  8
Affiliations

The immunodominant and neutralization linear epitopes for SARS-CoV-2

Shuai Lu et al. Cell Rep. .

Abstract

Although vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are under development, the antigen epitopes on the virus and their immunogenicity are poorly understood. Here, we simulate the 3D structures and predict the B cell epitopes on the spike (S), envelope (E), membrane (M), and nucleocapsid (N) proteins of SARS-CoV-2 using structure-based approaches and validate epitope immunogenicity by immunizing mice. Almost all 33 predicted epitopes effectively induce antibody production, six of these are immunodominant epitopes in individuals, and 23 are conserved within SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, and bat coronavirus RaTG13. We find that the immunodominant epitopes of individuals with domestic (China) SARS-CoV-2 are different from those of individuals with imported (Europe) SARS-CoV-2, which may be caused by mutations on the S (G614D) and N proteins. Importantly, we find several epitopes on the S protein that elicit neutralizing antibodies against D614 and G614 SARS-CoV-2, which can contribute to vaccine design against coronaviruses.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; immunodominant epitope; neutralizing epitope; vaccine.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests R.-t.L, S.L., and X.-x.X. have filed a provisional patent on epitopes for designing a coronavirus vaccine.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1
Figure 1
Predication and validation of epitopes on SARS-CoV-2 (A–D) Molecular simulated structures and predicted epitopes of major proteins of SARS-CoV-2. Shown are top and side views of 3D structures (gray) and the predicted epitopes (colored) of the spike (S) protein (A), envelope (E) protein (B), membrane (M) protein (C), and nucleocapsid (N) protein (D). (E–H) Epitope-conjugated HBc-S VLPs induce high antibody titers against epitope peptides and SARS-CoV-2 proteins. (E) Schematic of the immunization design. (F–H) 96-well plates were coated with peptides (F) and S (G) and N (H) proteins. Data are shown as mean ± SEM (compared with the HBc-S control; ∗∗∗p < 0.001; ∗∗∗∗p < 0.0001; one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett’s test; compared with non-glycosylated epitope; #p < 0.05; Student’s t test).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Imported and domestic COVID-19 have different immunodominant epitopes (A) The landscape of adjusted epitope-specific antibody levels in early convalescent sera of individuals with imported and domestic COVID-19. Gray indicates not tested. (B–G) Immunodominant epitopes binding with the antibodies in early convalescent sera from individuals with imported and domestic COVID-19. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. The cutoff lines were based on the mean value plus 3 SD in 4–5 healthy persons.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Antibodies induced by epitopes of the S protein inhibit SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus infection (A and B) Neutralizing potency of mice sera after the third immunization with each vaccine was measured with D614 (A) or G614 (B) SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses (PsVs). Data are shown as mean ± SEM (compared with the HBc-S control;∗p < 0.05; ∗∗p < 0.01; ∗∗∗p < 0.001; ∗∗∗∗p < 0.0001; compared with non-glycosylated epitope; #p < 0.05; ##p < 0.01; ####p < 0.0001). (C) 2-Fold serial dilution neutralizing assay against G614 SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses. Data are shown as mean ± SEM. (D–I) Spatial positions of D614 (D–F) and G614 pseudovirus (G–I) neutralizing epitopes (colored), respectively, in or near the N-terminal domain (NTD; D and G), receptor-binding domain (RBD; E and H), and S2′ cleavage site (F and I) of the S protein (gray).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ahmed S.F., Quadeer A.A., McKay M.R. Preliminary Identification of Potential Vaccine Targets for the COVID-19 Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Based on SARS-CoV Immunological Studies. Viruses. 2020;12:254. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alphs H.H., Gambhira R., Karanam B., Roberts J.N., Jagu S., Schiller J.T., Zeng W., Jackson D.C., Roden R.B. Protection against heterologous human papillomavirus challenge by a synthetic lipopeptide vaccine containing a broadly cross-neutralizing epitope of L2. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2008;105:5850–5855. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnes C.O., Gristick H.B., Freund N.T., Escolano A., Lyubimov A.Y., Hartweger H., West A.P., Jr., Cohen A.E., Nussenzweig M.C., Bjorkman P.J. Structural characterization of a highly-potent V3-glycan broadly neutralizing antibody bound to natively-glycosylated HIV-1 envelope. Nat. Commun. 2018;9:1251. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Barnes C.O., West A.P., Jr., Huey-Tubman K.E., Hoffmann M.A.G., Sharaf N.G., Hoffman P.R., Koranda N., Gristick H.B., Gaebler C., Muecksch F. Structures of Human Antibodies Bound to SARS-CoV-2 Spike Reveal Common Epitopes and Recurrent Features of Antibodies. Cell. 2020;182:828–842.e16. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baruah V., Bose S. Immunoinformatics-aided identification of T cell and B cell epitopes in the surface glycoprotein of 2019-nCoV. J. Med. Virol. 2020;92:495–500. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms