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Shkurnikov MY, Tonevitskaya SA, Stepanova EV, Slobodov SA. Immunocompetent Mice As a Model for Preclinical Studies of mRNA Vaccine Immunogenicity. DOKL BIOCHEM BIOPHYS 2023; 512:266-269. [PMID: 38093128 PMCID: PMC10719129 DOI: 10.1134/s160767292370045x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Revised: 06/21/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/17/2023]
Abstract
Conducting preclinical studies of mRNA vaccines is complicated by the lack of relevant animal models of the human immune system. Immunocompetent mice are widely used in biomedical research. However, critical differences in the genetics and immune system of mice and humans prevent the study of unique human immune responses in mice. Within the framework of this work, the possibility of modeling the cytotoxic T-cell response to mRNA vaccines encoding the S-protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was investigated. High-affinity peptides from S-protein were analyzed for the most frequent allelic variants of human MHC-I, two immunocompetent mouse lines (C57BL/6, BALB/c) and an outbred mouse model of IRC. The results of computer modeling have shown that mouse models can be used in preclinical studies of mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2. Mouse MHC-I is able to present virus peptides that are highly affine for human MHC-I. Moreover, the immunogenicity of some of them has already been confirmed by examining blood samples from patients who have had COVID-19.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Yu Shkurnikov
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
| | - S A Tonevitskaya
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - E V Stepanova
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - S A Slobodov
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
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Yang G, Wang J, Sun P, Qin J, Yang X, Chen D, Zhang Y, Zhong N, Wang Z. SARS-CoV-2 epitope-specific T cells: Immunity response feature, TCR repertoire characteristics and cross-reactivity. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1146196. [PMID: 36969254 PMCID: PMC10036809 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1146196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/17/2023] [Accepted: 03/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The devastating COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 and multiple variants or subvariants remains an ongoing global challenge. SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses play a critical role in early virus clearance, disease severity control, limiting the viral transmission and underpinning COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. Studies estimated broad and robust T cell responses in each individual recognized at least 30 to 40 SARS-CoV-2 antigen epitopes and associated with COVID-19 clinical outcome. Several key immunodominant viral proteome epitopes, including S protein- and non-S protein-derived epitopes, may primarily induce potent and long-lasting antiviral protective effects. In this review, we summarized the immune response features of immunodominant epitope-specific T cells targeting different SRAS-CoV-2 proteome structures after infection and vaccination, including abundance, magnitude, frequency, phenotypic features and response kinetics. Further, we analyzed the epitopes immunodominance hierarchy in combination with multiple epitope-specific T cell attributes and TCR repertoires characteristics, and discussed the significant implications of cross-reactive T cells toward HCoVs, SRAS-CoV-2 and variants of concern, especially Omicron. This review may be essential for mapping the landscape of T cell responses toward SARS-CoV-2 and optimizing the current vaccine strategy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Yang
- Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
- Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
| | - Junxiang Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease & National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ping Sun
- Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
| | - Jian Qin
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
| | - Xiaoyun Yang
- Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease & National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Daxiang Chen
- Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease & National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yunhui Zhang
- Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, The First People’s Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China
- *Correspondence: Zhongfang Wang, ; Nanshan Zhong, ; Yunhui Zhang,
| | - Nanshan Zhong
- Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
- Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease & National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Zhongfang Wang, ; Nanshan Zhong, ; Yunhui Zhang,
| | - Zhongfang Wang
- Guangzhou Laboratory, Guangzhou, China
- State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Disease & National Clinical Research Center for Respiratory Disease, Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory Health, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- *Correspondence: Zhongfang Wang, ; Nanshan Zhong, ; Yunhui Zhang,
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Jin X, Liu X, Shen C. A systemic review of T-cell epitopes defined from the proteome of SARS-CoV-2. Virus Res 2023; 324:199024. [PMID: 36526016 PMCID: PMC9757803 DOI: 10.1016/j.virusres.2022.199024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Revised: 12/10/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection remains in a global pandemic, and no eradicative therapy is currently available. Host T cells have been shown to play a crucial role in the antiviral immune protection and pathology in Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients; thus, identifying sufficient T-cell epitopes from the SARS-CoV-2 proteome can contribute greatly to the development of T-cell epitope vaccines and the precise evaluation of host SARS-CoV-2-specific cellular immunity. This review presents a comprehensive map of T-cell epitopes functionally validated from SARS-CoV-2 antigens, the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) supertypes to present these epitopes, and the strategies to screen and identify T-cell epitopes. To the best of our knowledge, a total of 1349 CD8+ T-cell epitopes and 790 CD4+ T-cell epitopes have been defined by functional experiments thus far, but most are presented by approximately twenty common HLA supertypes, such as HLA-A0201, A2402, B0702, DR15, DR7 and DR11 molecules, and 74-80% of the T-cell epitopes are derived from S protein and nonstructural protein. These data provide useful insight into the development of vaccines and specific T-cell detection systems. However, the currently defined T-cell epitope repertoire cannot cover the HLA polymorphism of major populations in an indicated geographic region. More research is needed to depict an overall landscape of T-cell epitopes, which covers the overall SARS-CoV-2 proteome and global patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxiao Jin
- Northern Jiangsu People's Hospital, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China 225002; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 210009
| | - Xiaotao Liu
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 210009
| | - Chuanlai Shen
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China 210009.
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Chen LC, Nersisyan S, Wu CJ, Chang CM, Tonevitsky A, Guo CL, Chang WC. On the peptide binding affinity changes in population-specific HLA repertoires to the SARS-CoV-2 variants Delta and Omicron. J Autoimmun 2022; 133:102952. [PMID: 36427410 PMCID: PMC9650568 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaut.2022.102952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2022] [Revised: 11/05/2022] [Accepted: 11/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To investigate the changes of Spike protein-HLA binding affinity profiles between the Wuhan strain and two dominant variants, the Delta and the Omicron strains, among the Taiwanese, the British and the Russian populations. METHODS The HLA frequencies and the HLA-peptide binding affinity profiles in the T-CoV database were combined to conduct the study. We focused on the public alleles in the three populations (HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DRB1, and/or HLA-DPA1/DPB1 alleles) and the altered peptides of the spike protein (compared to the Wuhan strain) in the Delta G/478K·V1 (B.1.617.2 + AY.1 + AY.2) and the Omicron (BA.1) strains. RESULTS For the Delta strain, tight bindings of the altered peptides to the HLA alleles decrease in all three populations and almost vanish in the Taiwanese population. For the Omicron strain, tight bindings are mostly preserved for both HLA classes and in the Taiwanese and the British populations, with a slight reduction in HLA class II in the Taiwanese (1.4%), while the Russian population preserves a relatively high fraction of tight bindings for both HLA classes. CONCLUSION We comprehensively reported the changes in the HLA-associated SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein peptide binding profiles among the Taiwanese, the British, and the Russian populations. Further studies are needed to understand the immunological mechanisms and the clinical value of our findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu-Chun Chen
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Stepan Nersisyan
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Institute of Molecular Biology, The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia,Armenian Bioinformatics Institute (ABI), Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Chang-Jiun Wu
- Department of Genomic Medicine, University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center. Houston Texas, USA
| | - Che-Mai Chang
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Alexander Tonevitsky
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Chin-Lin Guo
- Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan,Corresponding author. Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica, No. 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nangang Dist., Taipei City 115201, Taiwan. Tel.: (886) 988545414
| | - Wei-Chiao Chang
- Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan,Department of Medical Education and Research, Integrative Research Center for Critical Care, Wan fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan,Master Program in Clinical Genomics and Proteomics, School of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan,Department of Pharmacy, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan,Corresponding author. Department of Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, No. 250 Wuxing St., Xinyi Dist., Taipei City 110, Taiwan. Tel.: (886) 928121979
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Effectiveness of Booster Doses of the SARS-CoV-2 Inactivated Vaccine KCONVAC against the Mutant Strains. Viruses 2022; 14:v14092016. [PMID: 36146822 PMCID: PMC9503905 DOI: 10.3390/v14092016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/06/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
As the COVID-19 epidemic progresses with the emergence of different SARS-CoV-2 variants, it is important to know the effectiveness of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines against the variants. To maximize efficiency, a third boost injection of the high-dose SARS-CoV-2 inactivated vaccine KCONVAC was selected for investigation. In addition to the ancestral strain, KCONVAC boost vaccination induced neutralizing antibodies and antigen-specific CD8 T cells to recognize several variants, including B.1.617.2 (Delta), B.1.1.529 (Omicron), B.1.1.7 (Alpha), B.1.351 (Beta), P.3, B.1.526.1 (Lota), B.1.526.2, B.1.618, and B.1.617.3. Both humoral and cellular immunity against variants were lower than those of ancestral variants but continued to increase from day 0 to day 7 to day 50 after boost vaccination. Fifty days post-boost, the KCONVAC-vaccinated CD8 T-cell level reached 1.23-, 2.59-, 2.53-, and 1.01-fold that of convalescents against ancestral, Delta, Omicron and other SARS-CoV-2 variants, respectively. Our data demonstrate the importance of KCONVAC boosters to broaden both humoral and cellular immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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Nersisyan S, Zhiyanov A, Zakharova M, Ishina I, Kurbatskaia I, Mamedov A, Galatenko A, Shkurnikov M, Gabibov A, Tonevitsky A. Alterations in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta peptides presentation by HLA molecules. PeerJ 2022; 10:e13354. [PMID: 35502206 PMCID: PMC9055995 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.13354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
The T-cell immune response is a major determinant of effective SARS-CoV-2 clearance. Here, using the recently developed T-CoV bioinformatics pipeline (https://t-cov.hse.ru) we analyzed the peculiarities of the viral peptide presentation for the Omicron, Delta and Wuhan variants of SARS-CoV-2. First, we showed the absence of significant differences in the presentation of SARS-CoV-2-derived peptides by the most frequent HLA class I/II alleles and the corresponding HLA haplotypes. Then, the analysis was limited to the set of peptides originating from the Spike proteins of the considered SARS-CoV-2 variants. The major finding was the destructive effect of the Omicron mutations on PINLVRDLPQGFSAL peptide, which was the only tight binder from the Spike protein for HLA-DRB1*03:01 allele and some associated haplotypes. Specifically, we predicted a dramatical decline in binding affinity of HLA-DRB1*03:01 and this peptide both because of the Omicron BA.1 mutations (N211 deletion, L212I substitution and EPE 212-214 insertion) and the Omicron BA.2 mutations (V213G substitution). The computational prediction was experimentally validated by ELISA with the use of corresponding thioredoxin-fused peptides and recombinant HLA-DR molecules. Another finding was the significant reduction in the number of tightly binding Spike peptides for HLA-B*07:02 HLA class I allele (both for Omicron and Delta variants). Overall, the majority of HLA alleles and haplotypes was not significantly affected by the mutations, suggesting the maintenance of effective T-cell immunity against the Omicron and Delta variants. Finally, we introduced the Omicron variant to T-CoV portal and added the functionality of haplotype-level analysis to it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stepan Nersisyan
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,Institute of Molecular Biology, The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia,Armenian Bioinformatics Institute (ABI), Yerevan, Armenia
| | - Anton Zhiyanov
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Maria Zakharova
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Irina Ishina
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Inna Kurbatskaia
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Azad Mamedov
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexei Galatenko
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Maxim Shkurnikov
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexander Gabibov
- Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Alexander Tonevitsky
- Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University, Moscow, Russia,Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia,Art Photonics GmbH, Berlin, Germany
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