HLA alleles are associated with the body’s response to infection and the regulation of the immune system. HLA alleles have been reported to be involved in response to viral infections such as SARS-CoV2. Our study reviews the HLA alleles associated with protection or susceptibility to SARS-CoV2 and the prevalence of these HLA alleles in South America. Previous studies on HLA and SARS-CoV2 infection reported that HLA-A*02:02, HLA-B*15:03, and HLA-C*12:03 are protective; while HLA-A*25:01, HLA-B*46:01, and HLA-C*01:02 increase susceptibility. We identified that these alleles are not frequent in South America, confirmed that the spike protein is the most immunogenic protein of SARS-CoV2, and detected new immunogenic epitopes that bound to protective HLA alleles and to HLA alleles common in South America (binding score > 0.90). These could be used as vaccine targets.

HLA 等位基因与身体对感染的反应和免疫系统的调节有关。据报道，HLA 等位基因参与了对 SARS-CoV2 等病毒感染的反应。我们的研究回顾了与 SARS-CoV2 的保护或易感性相关的 HLA 等位基因，以及这些 HLA 等位基因在南美洲的流行程度。以往关于 HLA 和 SARS-CoV2 感染的研究报道，HLA-A*02:02、HLA-B*15:03 和 HLA-C*12:03 具有保护作用；而 HLA-A*25:01、HLA-B*46:01 和 HLA-C*01:02 增加了易感性。我们发现这些等位基因在南美洲并不常见，证实刺突蛋白是 SARS-CoV2 中最具免疫原性的蛋白，并检测到与保护性 HLA 等位基因和南美洲常见的 HLA 等位基因结合的新免疫原性表位（结合评分 > 0.90）。