Immunoinformatics approach for a novel multi-epitope vaccine construct against spike protein of human coronaviruses

Spike (S) proteins are an attractive target as it mediates the binding of the SARS-CoV-2 to the host through ACE-2 receptors. We hypothesize that the screening of S protein sequences of all the HCoVs would result in the identification of potential multi-epitope vaccine candidates capable of conferring immunity against various HCoVs. In the present study, several machine learning-based in-silico tools were employed to design a broad-spectrum multi-epitope vaccine candidate against S protein of human coronaviruses. To the best of our knowledge, it is one of the first study, where multiple B-cell epitopes and T-cell epitopes (CTL and HTL) were predicted from the S protein sequences of all seven known HCoVs and linked together with an adjuvant to construct a potential broad-spectrum vaccine candidate. Secondary and tertiary structures were predicted, validated and the refined 3D-model was docked with an immune receptor. The vaccine candidate was evaluated for antigenicity, allergenicity, solubility, and its ability to achieve high-level expression in bacterial hosts. Finally, the immune simulation was carried out to evaluate the immune response after three vaccine doses. The designed vaccine is antigenic (with or without the adjuvant), non-allergenic, binds well with TLR-3 receptor and might elicit a diverse and strong immune response.