Immunoinformatics-guided design of an epitope-based vaccine against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike glycoprotein

Aims With a large number of fatalities, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has greatly affected human health worldwide. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus that causes COVID-19. The World Health Organization has declared a global pandemic of this contagious disease. Researchers across the world are collaborating in a quest for remedies to combat this deadly virus. It has recently been demonstrated that the spike glycoprotein (SGP) of SARS-CoV-2 is the mediator by which the virus enters host cells. Main methods Our group comprehensibly analyzed the SGP of SARS-CoV-2 through multiple sequence analysis and a phylogenetic analysis. We predicted the strongest immunogenic epitopes of the SGP for both B cells and T cells. Key findings We focused on predicting…