Alterations in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron and Delta peptides presentation by HLA molecules

PeerJ

article

Stepan Nersisyan¹  Anton Zhiyanov²  Maria Zakharova²  Irina Ishina²  Inna Kurbatskaia²  Azad Mamedov²  Alexei Galatenko¹  Maxim Shkurnikov¹  Alexander Gabibov²  Alexander Tonevitsky¹ 

[1] Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, HSE University;Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences;Institute of Molecular Biology, The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia;Armenian Bioinformatics Institute;Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Lomonosov Moscow State University;Art Photonics GmbH

关键词: SARS-CoV-2;    Omicron;    Delta;    HLA;    T-CoV;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.13354

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

The T-cell immune response is a major determinant of effective SARS-CoV-2 clearance. Here, using the recently developed T-CoV bioinformatics pipeline (https://t-cov.hse.ru) we analyzed the peculiarities of the viral peptide presentation for the Omicron, Delta and Wuhan variants of SARS-CoV-2. First, we showed the absence of significant differences in the presentation of SARS-CoV-2-derived peptides by the most frequent HLA class I/II alleles and the corresponding HLA haplotypes. Then, the analysis was limited to the set of peptides originating from the Spike proteins of the considered SARS-CoV-2 variants. The major finding was the destructive effect of the Omicron mutations on PINLVRDLPQGFSAL peptide, which was the only tight binder from the Spike protein for HLA-DRB1*03:01 allele and some associated haplotypes. Specifically, we predicted a dramatical decline in binding affinity of HLA-DRB1*03:01 and this peptide both because of the Omicron BA.1 mutations (N211 deletion, L212I substitution and EPE 212-214 insertion) and the Omicron BA.2 mutations (V213G substitution). The computational prediction was experimentally validated by ELISA with the use of corresponding thioredoxin-fused peptides and recombinant HLA-DR molecules. Another finding was the significant reduction in the number of tightly binding Spike peptides for HLA-B*07:02 HLA class I allele (both for Omicron and Delta variants). Overall, the majority of HLA alleles and haplotypes was not significantly affected by the mutations, suggesting the maintenance of effective T-cell immunity against the Omicron and Delta variants. Finally, we introduced the Omicron variant to T-CoV portal and added the functionality of haplotype-level analysis to it.

【 授权许可】

CC BY