Screening for immunodominant epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 based on CD8+ T cell responses from individuals with HLA-A homozygous alleles.

PURPOSE: SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) are crucial in viral clearance, disease progression, and reinfection control. However, numerous SARS-CoV-2 immunodominant CTL epitopes theoretically are still unidentified due to the genetic polymorphism of human leukocyte antigen class I (HLA-I) molecules.

METHODS

The CTL epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 were predicted by the epitope affinity and immunogenicity prediction platforms: the NetMHCpan and the PromPPD. Individuals with HLA-A homozygous alleles were screened from 252 COVID-19 vaccinees, including the Ad5-nCoV vaccine (CanSino, n = 183) and the CoronaVac inactivated vaccine (Sinovac, n = 69) using MiSeqDx™ generation sequencing, and their PBMCs were further stimulated by the predicted peptides to screen the immunodominant epitopes according to the secretion of IFN-γ from CD8+ T cells. Peptide-MHC tetramers were constructed and used to detect the frequency of antigen specific CTLs in vivo.

RESULTS

Individuals with HLA-A homozygous alleles including HLA-A*01 (n = 1), -A*02 (n = 9), - A*03 and -A*11 (n = 12), and -A*24 (n = 7) supertypes were selected. Twelve immunodominant CTL epitopes for these HLA-A allotypes were finally screened based on the frequency of IFN-γ+CD8+ T cells in homozygous individuals. The SARS-CoV-2 specific CTLs from Omicron variant infected patients were successfully evaluated by these novel peptide-HLA tetramers.

CONCLUSION

A set of immunodominant CTL epitopes of SARS-CoV-2 was identified, and the antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in viral infected patients or COVID-19 vaccinees could be rapidly detected by a mixture of the peptide-MHC tetramers.