Abstract
New coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) treatments and vaccines are under development to combat COVID-19. Several approaches are being used by scientists for investigation, including (1) various small molecule approaches targeting RNA polymerase, 3C-like protease, and RNA endonuclease; and (2) exploration of antibodies obtained from convalescent plasma from patients who have recovered from COVID-19. The coronavirus genome is highly prone to mutations that lead to genetic drift and escape from immune recognition; thus, it is imperative that sub-strains with different mutations are also accounted for during vaccine development. As the disease has grown to become a pandemic, B-cell and T-cell epitopes predicted from SARS coronavirus have been reported. Using the epitope information along with variants of the virus, we have found several variants which might cause drifts. Among such variants, 23403A>G variant (p.D614G) in spike protein B-cell epitope is observed frequently in European countries, such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, and France, but seldom observed in China.
Highlights
In late 2019, a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, causing acute respiratory distress syndrome, was first reported in Wuhan, China
Twenty-one distinct variants were identified in T-cell epitopes
Variant (p.D614G) involves a change of large acidic residue D into small hydrophobic residue G. Such large differences in both size and hydrophobicity in the middle of the epitope would compromise the binding affinity to antibodies trained by vaccines with wild-type spike protein
Summary
In late 2019, a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, causing acute respiratory distress syndrome, was first reported in Wuhan, China. Despite a lockdown of the city, the number of patients increased exponentially, while in parallel the virus spread across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic on 11 March 2020. No treatments or vaccines are scientifically proven to be effective against the virus. Safe and effective vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 are urgently needed to mitigate the pandemic. A clinical trial of mRNA-1273 with full spike protein as an antigen started on 8 March 2020 [1]
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