AVALIAÇÃO DO PERFIL DE CITOCINAS E ENSAIO DE CITOTOXICIDADE EM CÉLULAS VERO E6 DO MULTIEPÍTOPO RECOMBINANTE 1 (MEREC1) DO SARSCOV-2

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for COVID-19, is the object of worldwide study due to its rapid replication, which triggers an exacerbated immune response, due to a cytokine storm, the severe acute respiratory syndrome, the main cause of death in patients. with this condition. This syndrome is due to the presentation of systemic hyperinflammation, with the presence of high levels of cytokines and chemokines. That said, research centers around the world have been at the forefront to produce vaccines capable of immunizing the population, but due to the possible immune escape of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, updated vaccine strategies aimed at increasing their effectiveness are necessary. Therefore, our research group mapped and identified in silico immunodominant regions of SARS-CoV-2 proteins, characterizing peptides as a possible vaccine prototype to be used against the virus. Thus, the present work aims to evaluate the profile of the cellular immune response through cytokine dosages and in vitro cytotoxicity assays induced by the developed peptides, checking pre-clinical assays of this vaccine prototype. Cytotoxicity assays in Vero E6 cells and in peripheral blood mononuclear cells – PBMCs – and cytokine dosage in culture supernatant were performed. Our results revealed that the selected peptides stimulated a good IFN-γbased cellular response, however, without the harmful exacerbation of inflammatory cytokine production. In addition, under the conditions tested, the peptide sequences did not show cytotoxicity. These findings, although preliminary, encourage our group to carry out the subsequent stages of a larger project, evaluating new culture conditions, increasing the sample n and carrying out in vivo assays, thus aiming at validating these antigenic sequences as an immunizer for COVID -19.