SARS-CoV-2 Recombinant Spike Protein-based Vaccine: A Promising Candidate against the Recent Imperial Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Abstract

In time past, to date combating against diseases and fatal disorders (of known or idiopathic cause) is a major effort among the human race. The emergence of several, novel and pathogenic viral infections have posed a great threat to humanity and could wipe us out of existence if there are no counter measures. Among the increasing number of pathogenic viruses in this past decade, the advent of the recent imperial SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus type cannot be underestimated as it is not just a malady endemic to a nation, but have also triggered an emergency of public health across the globe. SARS-CoV-2 a memorial of the initial Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) reported in China in (2003) is the etiological agent of the mysterious COVID-19 reported to originate from Wuhan, Hubei province, China in 2019. Though the virus exhibit mild pathogenicity compared to other previously emerged human coronaviruses (HCoV-OC43, HCoV-HKU1, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV), however, the high transmissibility and infectivity among human is alarming. In spite the evidences from the increasing number of substantiated global cases and deaths resulting from the epidemic outbreak to date, curative measures to curtail and treat this disease are still lacking. Just like SARS-CoV, it has been revealed that SARS-CoV-2 also uses similar receptor for infectivity and shares similar disease pathogenesis. This knowledge presents a therapeutic target against COVID-19. The presence of cross-reactive epitopes in the spike protein subunit of SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 present the use of neutralization antibodies from convalescent SARS challenged patients against COVID 19. However, limited cross-neutralization due to lower sequence conservation in the Spike protein subunit could render this approach ineffective. Realizing the urgent need for developing potent therapeutics against the imminent risk of COVID-19 on humanity, this review article, suggests the use of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant Spike protein-based vaccine as an immunotherapeutic target to combat COVID-19 based on garnered knowledge from researches on consanguineal coronaviruses (SARS-CoV, and MERS-CoV), and current trends in vaccine development against this infection.