Design of a Multi-epitope Vaccine against Covid-19: An In silico Approach

Abstract

The control of the Covid-19 epidemic depends on designing a novel, effective vaccine against it. Currently, available vaccines cannot provide complete protection against various mutants of Covid-19. The present investigation aimed to design a new multi-epitope vaccine by using in silico tools. In the present study, the spike-glycoprotein was targeted, desirably stimulating both B and T-cell lymphocytes, providing effective and safe responses in the host immune system. The desired vaccine has been found to possess 448 amino acids of spike glycoprotein. The prognosticated epitopes included 10 CTL, 4 linear B-cells, and 14 HTL, including the 128 amino acid sequence of 50S ribosomal protein adjuvant joined by GPGPG and AAY linkers on the N terminus of linear B-cell, HTL, and CTL epitopes, and the C-terminal joined with HHHHHH (6HIS) linker, indicating stability for vaccine structure. The molecular docking has revealed the protein-protein restricting communication be-tween the immunization construct and the TLR-3-resistant receptor. The vaccine has been de-veloped through selected epitopes, an adjuvant, and an additional epitope. Docking assays with toll-like receptor 3 have been run on a three-dimensional structural model of the vaccine to gauge its immunological potency. Our findings support the hypothesis that our vaccination will activate TLR-mediated downstream immune pathways by aggressively interacting with the innate receptor. The results suggest that the proposed chimeric peptide could initiate an efficient and safe immune response against Covid-19. The proposed vaccine has been proven safe in all critical parameters.