Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 27, 2025

Engineering Antiviral Agents via Surface Plasmon Resonance
Published on: June 14, 2022
Natural heteroclitic-like peptides are generated by SARS-CoV-2 mutations
Camilla Tiezzi1, Andrea Vecchi2, Marzia Rossi1
1Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Abstract:
Humoral immunity is sensitive to evasion by SARS-CoV-2 mutants, but CD8 T cells seem to be more resistant to mutational inactivation. By a systematic analysis of 30 spike variant peptides containing the most relevant VOC and VOI mutations that have accumulated overtime, we show that in vaccinated and convalescent subjects, mutated epitopes can have not only a neutral or inhibitory effect on CD8 T cell recognition but can also enhance or generate de novo CD8 T cell responses. The emergence of these mutated T cell function enhancing epitopes likely reflects an epiphenomenon of SARS-CoV-2 evolution driven by antibody evasion and increased virus transmissibility. In a subset of individuals with weak and narrowly focused CD8 T cell responses selection of these heteroclitic-like epitopes may bear clinical relevance by improving antiviral protection. The functional enhancing effect of these peptides is also worth of consideration for the future development of new generation, more potent COVID-19 vaccines.
More Related Videos
07:53A Fluorogenic Peptide Cleavage Assay to Screen for Proteolytic Activity: Applications for coronavirus spike protein activation
Published on: January 9, 2019
08:40Production of Pseudotyped Particles to Study Highly Pathogenic Coronaviruses in a Biosafety Level 2 Setting
Published on: March 1, 2019
Related Concept Videos
Viral Mutations
Leaky Scanning
Mutations
Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs
Conjugated Proteins
Nucleoproteins are protein complexes that contain nucleic acids, categorized as deoxyribonucleoproteins (DNPs) or ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) respectively. The nucleosome is a typical example of a DNP where nuclear DNA is associated with histone proteins. The major antigen for the Covid-19 virus SARS-CoV is an RNP that is critical...
Mutations in Microorganisms