OP0084 POSSIBLE ROLE OF PEPTIDE EPITOPES OF COVID-19 BNT-162B2 MRNA VACCINE IN FOMENTING AUTOIMMUNITY: AN IN SILICO ANALYSIS

Background Following the launch of global COVID-19 vaccination campaign, there have been increased reports autoimmune diseases developing de novo following vaccination. These cases include rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis, immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia, and connective tissue diseases. Nevertheless, vaccines are considered safe for patients with strongly recommended. Objectives The aim this in silico analysis is to investigate presence protein epitopes encoded by BNT-162b2 mRNA vaccine, one most commonly administered vaccines, that could elicit an aberrant adaptive response predisposed individuals. Methods FASTA sequence vaccine was retrieved from http://genome.ucsc.edu used as a key input Immune Epitope Database Analysis Resource ( www.iedb.org ). Linear peptides 90% BLAST homology were selected, T-cell, B-cell, MHC ligand assays without restriction searched evaluated. HLA-disease associations screened on HLA-SPREAD platform https://hla-spread.igib.res.in ) selecting only positive markers. Results A total 183 found, corresponding 178 SARS-CoV-2 5 SARS-CoV spike epitopes, respectively. obtained 22 T-cell assays, 398 B-cell 2 assays. Complementary receptors included 1080 0 receptors. Specifically, IEDB_epitope:1329790 (NATNVVIKVCEFQFCNDPFLGVYY) shown bind HLA-DRB1*15:02 HLA-DRB1*15:03 alleles, whereas IEDB_epitope:1392457 (TKCTLKSFTVEKGIYQTSNFRVQPT) reported HLA-DRB1*07:01, HLA-DRB1*03:01, HLA-DRB3*01:01, HLA-DRB4*01:01 alleles. HLA alleles detected found be positively associated various immunological disorders (Table 1). Table 1. MHC-restricted potentially conditions Assay molecule Associated disease (population) NATNVVIKVCEFQFCNDPFLGVYY + OX(C10) cellular MHC/mass spectrometry presentation Takayasu arteritis (Japanese) Arthritis (Taiwanese) Scleroderma Colitis Systemic lupus erythematosus (Mexican American) TKCTLKSFTVEKGIYQTSNFRVQPT SCM(K2) above HLA-DRB1*07:01 Allergy, hypersensitivity (Caucasian) HLA-DRB1*03:01 Type 1 diabetes (African) Sarcoidosis, good prognosis (Finnish) HLA-DRB3*01:01 Graves’ Thymoma Sarcoidosis (Scandinavian) Autoimmune hepatitis Vitiligo (Saudi Arabian) Conclusion Similar protein, product contains immunogenic may trigger phenomena Genotyping help identify at-risk However, further research needed elucidate underlying mechanisms potential clinical implications. References [1]Vita R, Mahajan S, Overton JA et al. (IEDB): 2018 update. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019 Jan 8;47(D1):D339-D343. doi: 10.1093/nar/gky1006. [2]Dholakia D, Kalra A, Misir BR HLA-SPREAD: natural language processing based resource curating association PubMed abstracts. BMC Genomics 23, 10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-021-08239-0 [3]Parker Partridge T, Wormald C Mapping glycoprotein-derived peptidome presented class II dendritic cells. Cell Rep. 2021 May 25;35(8):109179. 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109179. [4]Knierman MD, Lannan MB, Spindler LJ Human Leukocyte Antigen Class Immunopeptidome Spike Glycoprotein. 2020 Dec 1;33(9):108454. 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.108454. Acknowledgements: NIL. Disclosure Interests None Declared.