In silico design a multivalent epitope vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 for Iranian populations

Background: Due to high genetic variation in human leukocyte antigen )HLA( alleles, epitope-based vaccines don’t show equal efficacy in different human populations. therefore, we proposed a multi-epitope vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 for Iranian populations. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, the proteins without allergenicity and high antigenicity as well as conservancy level from SARS-CoV-2 were subjected to in silico B- and T-cell epitope mapping. T-cell epitope mapping process was performed based on the most frequent human leukocyte antigen (HLA) alleles in Iran. The B- and T-cell epitopes were screened based on their allergenicity, antigenicity and hemolytic potential and the epitopes with appropriate properties were subjected for final vaccine construct. The screened B- and T-cell epitopes were organized in the final vaccine construct. The secondary and tertiary structures of the proposed vaccine were predicted and its affinity to HLA-I, HLA-II, toll like receptor (TLR-3) and TLR-4 by molecular docking method. Additionally, probable immune responses against the vaccine were predicted trough immune simulation. Results: The final vaccine construct was includes six, eight and six linear B-cell epitopes, HLA-I restricted epitopes and HLA-II restricted epitopes respectively. The results of evaluations confirmed that the proposed vaccine is a 60.3 kDa stable, water soluble and high antigenic protein with high affinity to the selected target molecules and could elicits both humoral and cellular responses. Conclusion: Altogether, the study suggests that the proposed vaccine can be considered as an effective anti-COVID-19 vaccine candidate for Iranian population.