A bioinformatic prediction of antigen presentation from SARS-CoV-2 spike protein revealed a theorical correlation of HLA-DRB1*01 with COVID-19 fatality in Mexican population: an ecological approach

Journal article

SARS-CoV-2 infection is causing a pandemic disease that is reflected in challenging public health problems worldwide. Human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-based epitope prediction and its association with disease outcomes provide an important base for treatment design. A bioinformatic prediction of T cell epitopes and their restricted HLA Class I and II alleles was performed to obtain immunogenic epitopes and HLA alleles from the spike protein of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus. Also, a correlation with the predicted fatality rate of hospitalized patients in 28 states of Mexico was done. Here, we describe a set of 10 highly immunogenic epitopes, together with different HLA alleles that can efficiently present these epitopes to T cells. Most of these epitopes are located within the S1 subunit of the spike protein, suggesting that this area is highly immunogenic. A statistical negative correlation was found between the frequency of HLA-DRB1*01 and the fatality rate in hospitalized patients in Mexico.

Authors: Romero-López, JP; Carnalla-Cortés, M; Pacheco-Olvera, DL; Ocampo-Godínez, JM; Oliva-Ramírez, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Journal of Medical Virology
• Volume: 93
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 2029-2038
• Publication date: 2020-10-10
• Acceptance date: 2020-09-25
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.26561
• EISSN: 1096-9071
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• Pmid: 32986250
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR