• Ahmed Rakib, Saad Ahmed Sami, Nusrat Jahan Mimi, Md Mustafiz Chowdhury, Taslima Akter Eva, Firzan Nainu, Arkajyoti Paul, Asif Shahriar, Abu Montakim Tareq, Nazim Uddin Emon, Sajal Chakraborty, Sagar Shil, Sabrina Jahan Mily, Taibi Ben Hadda, Faisal A Almalki, and Talha Bin Emran.
• Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Chittagong, Chittagong, 4331, Bangladesh.
• Comput. Biol. Med. 2020 Sep 1; 124: 103967.

AimsWith a large number of fatalities, coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has greatly affected human health worldwide. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the virus that causes COVID-19. The World Health Organization has declared a global pandemic of this contagious disease. Researchers across the world are collaborating in a quest for remedies to combat this deadly virus. It has recently been demonstrated that the spike glycoprotein (SGP) of SARS-CoV-2 is the mediator by which the virus enters host cells.Main MethodsOur group comprehensibly analyzed the SGP of SARS-CoV-2 through multiple sequence analysis and a phylogenetic analysis. We predicted the strongest immunogenic epitopes of the SGP for both B cells and T cells.Key FindingsWe focused on predicting peptides that would bind major histocompatibility complex class I. Two optimal epitopes were identified, WTAGAAAYY and GAAAYYVGY. They interact with the HLA-B*15:01 allele, which was further validated by molecular docking simulation. This study also found that the selected epitopes are able to be recognized in a large percentage of the world's population. Furthermore, we predicted CD4+ T-cell epitopes and B-cell epitopes.SignificanceOur study provides a strong basis for designing vaccine candidates against SARS-CoV-2. However, laboratory work is required to validate our theoretical results, which would lay the foundation for the appropriate vaccine manufacturing and testing processes.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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