Cross-Recognition of SARS-CoV-2 B-Cell Epitopes with Other Betacoronavirus Nucleoproteins.
Int J Mol Sci
; 23(6)2022 Mar 10.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-35328398
ABSTRACT
The B and T lymphocytes of the adaptive immune system are important for the control of most viral infections, including COVID-19. Identification of epitopes recognized by these cells is fundamental for understanding how the immune system detects and removes pathogens, and for antiviral vaccine design. Intriguingly, several cross-reactive T lymphocyte epitopes from SARS-CoV-2 with other betacoronaviruses responsible for the common cold have been identified. In addition, antibodies that cross-recognize the spike protein, but not the nucleoprotein (N protein), from different betacoronavirus have also been reported. Using a consensus of eight bioinformatic methods for predicting B-cell epitopes and the collection of experimentally detected epitopes for SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2, we identified four surface-exposed, conserved, and hypothetical antigenic regions that are exclusive of the N protein. These regions were analyzed using ELISA assays with two cohorts SARS-CoV-2 infected patients and pre-COVID-19 samples. Here we describe four epitopes from SARS-CoV-2 N protein that are recognized by the humoral response from multiple individuals infected with COVID-19, and are conserved in other human coronaviruses. Three of these linear surface-exposed sequences and their peptide homologs in SARS-CoV-2 and HCoV-OC43 were also recognized by antibodies from pre-COVID-19 serum samples, indicating cross-reactivity of antibodies against coronavirus N proteins. Different conserved human coronaviruses (HCoVs) cross-reactive B epitopes against SARS-CoV-2 N protein are detected in a significant fraction of individuals not exposed to this pandemic virus. These results have potential clinical implications.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Epitope Mapping
/
Epitopes, B-Lymphocyte
/
Cross Reactions
/
Coronavirus OC43, Human
/
Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Proteins
/
SARS-CoV-2
Type of study:
Etiology_studies
/
Incidence_studies
/
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Int J Mol Sci
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
España