Next-Generation Bioinformatics Approaches and Resources for Coronavirus Vaccine Discovery and Development-A Perspective Review

Strategies and Trends in COVID-19 Vaccination Delivery: What We Learn and What We May Use for the Future

Vaccination has been the most effective way to control the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The numbers and types of vaccines have reached considerable proportions, even if the question of vaccine procedures and frequency still needs to be resolved. We have come to learn the necessity of defining vaccination distribution strategies with regard to COVID-19 that could be used for any future pandemics of similar gravity. In fact, vaccine monitoring implies the existence of a strategy that should be measurable in terms of input and output, based on a mathematical model, including death rates, the spread of infections, symptoms, hospitalization, and so on. This paper addresses the issue of vaccine diffusion and strategies for monitoring the pandemic. It provides a description of the importance and take up of vaccines and the links between procedures and the containment of COVID-19 variants, as well as the long-term effects. Finally, the paper focuses on the global scenario in a world undergoing profound social and political change, with particular attention on current and future health provision. This contribution would represent an example of vaccination experiences, which can be useful in other pandemic or epidemiological contexts.

Impact of COVID-19 Vaccination on Women During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding

Rapid development of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations in the late 2020s has significantly altered the trajectory in which the virus affects various patient demographics, especially the most susceptible ones. In light of ethical and conceptual safety considerations, pregnant women were initially barred from participating in clinical studies for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination programs. However, the steady accumulation of reliable observational data from cohorts of pregnant women who received vaccinations enabled the research establishments to quickly address a number of open questions. Still, more than a year after vaccines were widely available, the safety concerns of expectant or nursing mothers are cited as the primary justification for refusing COVID-19 vaccination, and notably, the rate of vaccination in the said populations is known to be consistently lower than those of the general populace. In light of such a scenario, we have made an attempt to garner relevant studies that evaluated the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on pregnant and lactating mothers which may prove to be supporting evidence for its wide usage among the said population.

COVID-19 Vaccines: Computational tools and Development

The 2019 coronavirus outbreak, also known as COVID-19, poses a serious threat to global health and has already had widespread, devastating effects around the world. Scientists have been working tirelessly to develop vaccines to stop the virus from spreading as much as possible, as its cure has not yet been found. As of December 2022, 651,918,402 cases and 6,656,601 deaths had been reported. Globally, over 13 billion doses of vaccine have been administered, representing 64.45% of the world's population that has received the vaccine. To expedite the vaccine development process, computational tools have been utilized. This paper aims to analyze some computational tools that aid vaccine development by presenting positive evidence for proving the efficacy of these vaccines to suppress the spread of the virus and for the use of computational tools in the development of vaccines for emerging diseases.

The Advantage of Using Immunoinformatic Tools on Vaccine Design and Development for Coronavirus

After the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 by the end of 2019, the vaccine development strategies became a worldwide priority. Furthermore, the appearances of novel SARS-CoV-2 variants challenge researchers to develop new pharmacological or preventive strategies. However, vaccines still represent an efficient way to control the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic worldwide. This review describes the importance of bioinformatic and immunoinformatic tools (in silico) for guide vaccine design. In silico strategies permit the identification of epitopes (immunogenic peptides) which could be used as potential vaccines, as well as nonacarriers such as: vector viral based vaccines, RNA-based vaccines and dendrimers through immunoinformatics. Currently, nucleic acid and protein sequential as well structural analyses through bioinformatic tools allow us to get immunogenic epitopes which can induce immune response alone or in complex with nanocarriers. One of the advantages of in silico techniques is that they facilitate the identification of epitopes, while accelerating the process and helping to economize some stages of the development of safe vaccines.

Health economic burden of COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has added a massive economic burden on health care systems worldwide. Saudi Arabia is one of the numerous countries that have been economically affected by this pandemic. The objective of this study was to provide real-world data on the health economic burden of COVID-19 on the Saudi health sector and assess the direct medical costs associated with the management of COVID-19.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study was conducted based on data collected from patients hospitalized with COVID-19 across 10 institutions in eight different regions in Saudi Arabia. The study calculated the direct medical costs of all cases during the study period by using SAS statistical analysis software. These costs included costs directly related to medical services, such as the health care treatment, hospital stays, laboratory investigations, treatment, outcome, and other related care.

Results

A total of 5,286 adult patients admitted with COVID-19 during the study period were included in the study. The average age of the patients was 54 years, and the majority were male (79%). Among the COVID-19 patients hospitalized in a general ward, the median hospital length of stay was 5.5 days (mean: 9.18 days), while the ICU stay was 4.2 days (mean: 7.94 days). The total medical costs for general ward and ICU patients were US$ 38,895 and US$ 24,207,296.9, respectively. The total laboratory investigations ranked as the highest-cost services US$ 588,975 followed by treatment US$ 3,886,509.8. Overall, the total cost of all medical services for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 was US$ 51,572,393.4.

Conclusion

This national study found that COVID-19 was not only a serious concern for patients but also a serious economic burden on the health care system in Saudi Arabia.

Nonhuman primate models for evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines

INTRODUCTION

Evaluation of immunogenicity and efficacy in animal models provide critical data in vaccine development. Nonhuman primates (NHPs) have been used extensively in the evaluation of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

AREAS COVERED

A critical synthesis of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development with a focus on challenge studies in NHPs is provided. The benefits and drawbacks of the NHP models are discussed. The citations were selected by the authors based on PubMed searches of the literature, summaries from national public health bodies, and press-release information provided by vaccine developers.

EXPERT OPINION

We identify several aspects of NHP models that limit their usefulness for vaccine-challenge studies and numerous variables that constrain comparisons across vaccine platforms. We propose that studies conducted in NHPs for vaccine development should use a standardized protocol and, where possible, be substituted with smaller animal models. This will ensure continued rapid progression of vaccines to clinical trials without compromising assessments of safety or efficacy.

Multiple Sclerosis Patients and Disease Modifying Therapies: Impact on Immune Responses against COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination

This article reviews the literature on SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and multiple sclerosis (MS). The first part of the paper focuses on the current data on immunopathology of SARS-CoV-2 and leading vaccines produced against COVID-19 infection. In the second part of the article, we discuss the effect of Disease Modifying Therapies (DMTs) on COVID-19 infection severity or SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in MS patients plus safety profile of different vaccine platforms in MS patients.

Deciphering the immunogenic T-cell epitopes from spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 concerning the diverse population of India

Scientists are rigorously looking for an efficient vaccine against the current pandemic due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The reverse vaccinology approach may provide us with significant therapeutic leads in this direction and further determination of T-cell/B-cell response to antigen. In the present study, we conducted a population coverage analysis referring to the diverse Indian population. From the Immune epitope database (IEDB), HLA- distribution analysis was performed to find the most promiscuous T-cell epitope out of In silico determined epitope of Spike protein from SARS-CoV-2. Epitopes were selected based on their binding affinity with the maximum number of HLA alleles belonging to the highest population coverage rate values for the chosen geographical area in India. 404 cleavage sites within the 1288 amino acids sequence of spike glycoprotein were determined by NetChop proteasomal cleavage prediction suggesting the presence of adequate sites in the protein sequence for cleaving into appropriate epitopes. For population coverage analysis, 179 selected epitopes present the projected population coverage up to 97.45% with 56.16 average hit and 15.07 pc90. 54 epitopes are found with the highest coverage among the Indian population and highly conserved within the given spike RBD domain sequence. Among all the predicted epitopes, 9-mer TRFASVYAW and RFDNPVLPF along with 12-mer LLAGTITSGWTF and VSQPFLMDLEGK epitopes are observed as the best due to their decent docking score and best binding affinity to corresponding HLA alleles during MD simulations. Outcomes from this study could be critical to design a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 for a different set of populations within the country.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

In Silico Evaluation of Binding of 2-Deoxy-D-Glucose with Mpro of nCoV to Combat COVID-19

COVID-19 has threatened the existence of humanity andthis infection occurs due to SARS-CoV-2 or novel coronavirus, was first reported in Wuhan, China. Therefore, there is a need to find a promising drug to cure the people suffering from the infection. The second wave of this viral infection was shaking the world in the first half of 2021. Drugs Controllers of India has allowed the emergency use of 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2DG) in 2021 for patients suffering from this viral infection. The potentiality of 2-deoxy-D-glucose to intervene in D-glucose metabolism exists and energy deprivation is an effective parameter to inhibit cancer cell development. Once 2DG arrives in the cells, it becomes phosphorylated to 2-deoxy-D-glucose-6-phosphate (2-DG6P), a charged molecule expressively captured inside the cells. On the other hand, 2DG lacks the ability to convert into fructose-6-phosphate, resulting in a hampering of the activity of both glucose-6-phosphate isomerase and hexokinase, and finally causing cell death. Hence, the potential and effectiveness of 2DG with the main protease (Mpro) of novel coronavirus (nCoV) should be investigated using the molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The ability of 2DG to inhibit the Mpro of nCoV is compared with 2-deoxyglucose (2DAG), an acyclic molecule, and 2-deoxy-D-ribose (2DR). The binding energy of the molecules with the Mpro of nCoV is calculated using molecular docking and superimposed analysis data is obtained. The binding energy of 2DG, 2DR and 2DAG was −2.40, −2.22 and −2.88 kcal/mol respectively. Although the molecular docking does not provide reliable information, therefore, the binding affinity can be confirmed by molecular dynamics simulations. Various trajectories such as Rg, RMSD, RMSF, and hydrogen bonds are obtained from the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. 2DG was found to be a better inhibitor than the 2DAG and 2DR based on the results obtained from the MD simulations at 300 K. Furthermore, temperature-dependent MD simulations of the Mpro of nCoV with promising 2DG was performed at 295, 310 and 315 K, and the effective binding with the Mpro of nCoV occurred at 295 K. With the use of DFT calculations, optimized geometry and localization of electron density of the frontier molecular orbitals were calculated.

Advances in Vaccine Development

The Special Issue titled "Advances in Vaccine Development" contains articles, reviews, and a perspective on advances in vaccine delivery and expression, nanovaccines, epitopes, proteins and adjuvants, and new vaccine platforms [...].