SARS-CoV-2 epitopes inform future vaccination strategies

Shafqat, Areez, Omer, Mohamed H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5967-9984, Ahmad, Omar, Niaz, Mahnoor, Abdulkader, Humzah S., Shafqat, Shameel, Mushtaq, Ali Hassan, Shaik, Abdullah, Elshaer, Ahmed N., Kashir, Junaid, Alkattan, Khaled and Yaqinuddin, Ahmed 2022. SARS-CoV-2 epitopes inform future vaccination strategies. Frontiers in Immunology 13 , p. 1041185. 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1041185

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Abstract

All currently approved COVID-19 vaccines utilize the spike protein as their immunogen. SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) contain mutations in the spike protein, enabling them to escape infection- and vaccination-induced immune responses to cause reinfection. New vaccines are hence being researched intensively. Studying SARS-CoV-2 epitopes is essential for vaccine design, as identifying targets of broadly neutralizing antibody responses and immunodominant T-cell epitopes reveal candidates for inclusion in next-generation COVID-19 vaccines. We summarize the major studies which have reported on SARS-CoV-2 antibody and T-cell epitopes thus far. These results suggest that a future of pan-coronavirus vaccines, which not only protect against SARS-CoV-2 but numerous other coronaviruses, may be possible. The T-cell epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 have gotten less attention than neutralizing antibody epitopes but may provide new strategies to control SARS-CoV-2 infection. T-cells target many SARS-CoV-2 antigens other than spike, recognizing numerous epitopes within these antigens, thereby limiting the chance of immune escape by VOCs that mainly possess spike protein mutations. Therefore, augmenting vaccination-induced T-cell responses against SARS-CoV-2 may provide adequate protection despite broad antibody escape by VOCs.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Publisher:	Frontiers Media
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	12 December 2022
Date of Acceptance:	11 November 2022
Last Modified:	31 May 2023 17:55
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/154824

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