ISSN: 1449-2288International Journal of Biological Sciences
Global reach, higher impact
Int J Biol Sci 2023; 19(13):4052-4060. doi:10.7150/ijbs.80468 This issue Cite
Review
Seeing the T cell Immunity of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV: Believing the Epitope-Oriented Vaccines
1. CAS Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, National Laboratory of Macromolecules, Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.
2. Department of Pathogen Biology & Microbiology, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
3. NHC Key Laboratory of Biosafety, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), Beijing, China.
4. School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
5. CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogen Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.
6. Shenzhen Children's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract
The emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) at the end of 2019 stimulated vigorous research efforts in immunology and vaccinology. In addition to innate immune responses, both virus-specific humoral and cellular immune responses are of importance for viral clearance. T cell epitopes play a central role in T cell-based immune responses. Herein, we summarized the peptide/major histocompatibility complex (pMHC) structures of the SARS-CoV-2-derived T cell epitopes available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) and proposed the challenge and opportunities for using of T cell epitopes in future vaccine development efforts. A total of 27 SARS-CoV-2 related pMHC structures and five complexes with T cell receptors were retrieved. The peptides are mainly distributed on spike (S), nucleocapsid (N), and ORF1ab proteins. Most peptides are conserved among variants of concerns (VOCs) for SARS-CoV-2, except for several mutated peptides located in the S protein. The structures of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) complexed with seven epitopes derived from SARS-CoV were also retrieved, which showed a potential cross T cell immunity with SARS-CoV-2. Structural studies of antigenic peptides from SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV help to visualize the processes and the mechanisms of cross T cell immunity. T cell epitope-oriented vaccines are potential next-generation vaccines for SARS-CoV-2, which are worthy of further investigation.
Keywords: Sarbecoviruses, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, pMHC, Epitope, TCR, Vaccine
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