A Peptide Vaccine Candidate Tailored to Individuals' Genetics Mimics the Multi-Targeted T Cell Immunity of COVID-19 Convalescent Subjects

• Published in: Frontiers in genetics Vol. 12; p. 684152
• Main Authors: Somogyi, Eszter, Csiszovszki, Zsolt, Molnár, Levente, Lőrincz, Orsolya, Tóth, József, Pattijn, Sofie, Schockaert, Jana, Mazy, Aurélie, Miklós, István, Pántya, Katalin, Páles, Péter, Tőke, Enikő R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A 23-06-2021
• Subjects: ethnic diversity; Genetics; global vaccine; HLA-genotype; in silico clinical trial; SARS-CoV-2 immunity
• ISSN: 1664-8021; 1664-8021
• DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.684152

Long-term immunity to coronaviruses likely stems from T cell activity. We present here a novel approach for the selection of immunoprevalent SARS-CoV-2-derived T cell epitopes using an
in silico
cohort of HLA-genotyped individuals with different ethnicities. Nine 30-mer peptides derived from the four major structural proteins of SARS-CoV-2 were selected and included in a peptide vaccine candidate to recapitulate the broad virus-specific T cell responses observed in natural infection. PolyPEPI-SCoV-2-specific, polyfunctional CD8
+
and CD4
+
T cells were detected in each of the 17 asymptomatic/mild COVID-19 convalescents' blood against on average seven different vaccine peptides. Furthermore, convalescents' complete HLA-genotype predicted their T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2-derived peptides with 84% accuracy. Computational extrapolation of this relationship to a cohort of 16,000 HLA-genotyped individuals with 16 different ethnicities suggest that PolyPEPI-SCoV-2 vaccination will likely elicit multi-antigenic T cell responses in 98% of individuals, independent of ethnicity. PolyPEPI-SCoV-2 administered with Montanide ISA 51 VG generated robust, Th1-biased CD8
+
, and CD4
+
T cell responses against all represented proteins, as well as binding antibodies upon subcutaneous injection into BALB/c and hCD34
+
transgenic mice modeling human immune system. These results have implications for the development of global, highly immunogenic, T cell-focused vaccines against various pathogens and diseases.