Antigenic epitope prediction of small envelope protein and designing a vaccine by using reverse vaccinology approach against SARS coronavirus Tor2 strain

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a serious form of pneumonia which results in acute respiratory distress and sometimes death. In this study, we applied the reverse vaccinology approach to determine the antigenic determinant sites present on the protein. The method incorporates the prediction of antigenic sites, solvent accessible region and secondary structure, B-cell epitope prediction, and the designing of antigenic determinant. The results of the study suggested that small envelope protein and orf8 protein could be potential candidates for vaccine designing. The high scoring antigenic peptides were designed and optimized. It is inferred that peptide of small envelope protein will make a very stable and effective vaccine targeting the E protein of the virus which is responsible for the spread of the virion. This study provides a strong and a potential optimized vaccine against SARS, which has high chances of success of immunization and higher probabilities of combating the dreadful disease.