%0 Journal Article
%@ 2563-3570
%I JMIR Publications
%V 3
%N 1
%P e36100
%T Development of a Multiepitope Vaccine Against SARS-CoV-2: Immunoinformatics Study
%A Ghafouri,Fatemeh
%A Ahangari Cohan,Reza
%A Samimi,Hilda
%A Hosseini Rad S M,Ali
%A Naderi,Mahmood
%A Noorbakhsh,Farshid
%A Haghpanah,Vahid
%+ Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Dr Shariati Hospital, North Kargar Avenue, Tehran, 14114, Iran, 98 21 88220037, v.haghpanah@gmail.com
%K SARS-CoV-2
%K envelope protein
%K spike protein
%K COVID-19 vaccine
%K bioinformatics
%K COVID-19
%K informatics
%K immunoinformatics
%K computational model
%K vaccine design
%K pandemic
%D 2022
%7 19.7.2022
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Bioinform Biotech
%G English
%X Background: Since the first appearance of SARS-CoV-2 in China in December 2019, the world witnessed the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Due to the high transmissibility rate of the virus, there is an urgent need to design and develop vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 to prevent more cases affected by the virus. Objective: A computational approach is proposed for vaccine design against the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein, as the key target for neutralizing antibodies, and envelope (E) protein, which contains a conserved sequence feature. Methods: We used previously reported epitopes of S protein detected experimentally and further identified a collection of predicted B-cell and major histocompatibility (MHC) class II–restricted T-cell epitopes derived from E proteins with an identical match to SARS-CoV-2 E protein. Results: The in silico design of our candidate vaccine against the S and E proteins of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated a high affinity to MHC class II molecules and effective results in immune response simulations. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, the multiepitope vaccine designed against the S and E proteins of SARS-CoV-2 may be considered as a new, safe, and efficient approach to combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. 
%M 35891920
%R 10.2196/36100
%U https://bioinform.jmir.org/2022/1/e36100
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/36100
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35891920