Identification of four linear B-cell epitopes on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein able to elicit neutralizing antibodies

Abstract SARS-CoV-2 unprecedentedly threatens the public health at worldwide level. There is an urgent need to develop an effective vaccine within a highly accelerated time. Here, we present the most comprehensive S-protein-based linear B-cell epitope candidate list by combining epitopes predicted b...

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Published in:bioRxiv 2020-12
Main Authors: Li, Lin, Zhao, Zhongpeng, Yang, Xiaolan, Li, Wendong, Chen, Shaolong, Sun, Ting, Wang, Lu, He, Yufei, Liu, Guang, Han, Xiaohan, Wen, Hao, Liu, Yong, Chen, Yifan, Wang, Haoyu, Li, Jing, Su, Zhongyi, Chen, Du, Wang, Yiting, Li, Xinyang, Yang, Zeqian, Wang, Jie, Li, Min, Wang, Tiecheng, Wang, Ying, Fan, Yubo, Wang, Hui, Zhang, Jing
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibodies
COVID-19
Disease hot spots
Epitopes
Informatics
Lymphocytes B
Proteins
Public health
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Spike protein
Vaccine development
Vaccines
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Summary:Abstract SARS-CoV-2 unprecedentedly threatens the public health at worldwide level. There is an urgent need to develop an effective vaccine within a highly accelerated time. Here, we present the most comprehensive S-protein-based linear B-cell epitope candidate list by combining epitopes predicted by eight widely-used immune-informatics methods with the epitopes curated from literature published between Feb 6, 2020 and July 10, 2020. We find four top prioritized linear B-cell epitopes in the hotspot regions of S protein can specifically bind with serum antibodies from horse, mouse, and monkey inoculated with different SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates or a patient recovering from COVID-19. The four linear B-cell epitopes can induce neutralizing antibodies against both pseudo and live SARS-CoV-2 virus in immunized wild-type BALB/c mice. This study suggests that the four linear B-cell epitopes are potentially important candidates for serological assay or vaccine development. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
DOI:10.1101/2020.12.13.422550