Structure/epitope-based immunoinformatics analysis of structural proteins of 2019 novel coronavirus

The newly identified 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) has caused more than 81,400 laboratory-confirmed human infections, including 3261 deaths, posing a serious threat to human health. Currently, however, there is no specific antiviral treatment or vaccine. To identify immunodominant peptides for designing global peptide vaccine for combating the infections caused by 2019-nCoV, the structure and immunogenicity of 2019-nCoV structural protein were analyzed by bioinformatics tools. 33 B-cell epitopes and 39 T-cell epitopes were determined in four structural proteins via different immunoinformatic tools in which include spike protein (22 B-cell epitopes, 25 T-cell epitopes ), nucleocapsid protein (7 B-cell epitopes, 6 T-cell epitopes), membrane protein (2 B-cell epitopes, 7 T-cell epitopes), and envelope protein (2 B-cell epitopes, 1T-cell epitopes), respectively. The proportion of epitope residues in primary sequence was used to determine the antigenicity and immunogenicity of proteins. The envelope protein has the largest antigenicity in which residue coverage of B-cell epitopes is 24%. The membrane protein possesses the largest immunogenicity in which residue coverage of T-cell epitopes is 55.86%. The reason that immune storm was caused by 2019-nCoV maybe that the membrane and envelope protein expressed plentifully in cell infected. Further, studies involving experimental validation of these predicted epitopes is warranted to ensure the potential of B-cells and T-cells stimulation for their effective use as vaccine candidates. These findings provide the basis for starting further studies on the pathogenesis, and optimizing the design of diagnostic, antiviral and vaccination strategies for this emerging infection.