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Author Spotlight: Advancing Antiviral Strategies Through Novel Immunocapture and Mass Spectrometry Techniques
Published on: January 12, 2024
CovEpiAb: a comprehensive database and analysis resource for immune epitopes and antibodies of human coronaviruses
Xue Zhang1, JingCheng Wu1, Yuanyuan Luo1
1National Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Delivery and Release Systems & Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Anti-Cancer Drug Research, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Abstract:
Coronaviruses have threatened humans repeatedly, especially COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2, which has posed a substantial threat to global public health. SARS-CoV-2 continuously evolves through random mutation, resulting in a significant decrease in the efficacy of existing vaccines and neutralizing antibody drugs. It is critical to assess immune escape caused by viral mutations and develop broad-spectrum vaccines and neutralizing antibodies targeting conserved epitopes. Thus, we constructed CovEpiAb, a comprehensive database and analysis resource of human coronavirus (HCoVs) immune epitopes and antibodies. CovEpiAb contains information on over 60 000 experimentally validated epitopes and over 12 000 antibodies for HCoVs and SARS-CoV-2 variants. The database is unique in (1) classifying and annotating cross-reactive epitopes from different viruses and variants; (2) providing molecular and experimental interaction profiles of antibodies, including structure-based binding sites and around 70 000 data on binding affinity and neutralizing activity; (3) providing virological characteristics of current and past circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants and in vitro activity of various therapeutics; and (4) offering site-level annotations of key functional features, including antibody binding, immunological epitopes, SARS-CoV-2 mutations and conservation across HCoVs. In addition, we developed an integrated pipeline for epitope prediction named COVEP, which is available from the webpage of CovEpiAb. CovEpiAb is freely accessible at https://pgx.zju.edu.cn/covepiab/.
Insights
A new database, CovEpiAb, catalogs human coronavirus epitopes and antibodies to combat viral evolution. It aids in developing broad-spectrum vaccines and therapeutics against SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Area of Science:
- Virology
- Immunology
- Bioinformatics
Background:
- Coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2, pose significant global health threats.
- Viral mutations reduce vaccine and antibody drug efficacy, necessitating new therapeutic strategies.
- Targeting conserved epitopes is crucial for developing broad-spectrum antivirals.
Purpose of the Study:
- To create CovEpiAb, a comprehensive database of human coronavirus (HCoVs) immune epitopes and antibodies.
- To provide an analysis resource for understanding viral immune escape and therapeutic development.
- To offer an integrated epitope prediction pipeline, COVEP.
Main Methods:
- Compiled and curated data on over 60,000 epitopes and 12,000 antibodies for HCoVs and SARS-CoV-2 variants.
- Classified cross-reactive epitopes and annotated antibody-virus interactions, including binding affinity and neutralization data.
- Integrated SARS-CoV-2 variant characteristics, therapeutic activities, and site-level functional annotations.
Main Results:
- CovEpiAb offers unique classifications of cross-reactive epitopes and detailed antibody interaction profiles.
- The database includes extensive data on binding affinity, neutralizing activity, and therapeutic efficacy.
- Site-level annotations highlight key features like antibody binding sites, immunological epitopes, and mutation conservation.
Conclusions:
- CovEpiAb serves as a valuable resource for studying coronavirus immunity and developing next-generation vaccines and therapeutics.
- The database facilitates research into viral evolution, immune escape mechanisms, and the efficacy of countermeasures.
- The integrated COVEP pipeline aids in predicting novel epitopes for therapeutic targeting.
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