Molecular and Microbiology Reagents 

Overview

PepTivator® SARS-CoV-2 Prot_N is a pool of lyophilized peptides, consisting mainly of 15-mer sequences with 11 amino acids overlap, covering the complete sequence of the nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (“N”) of SARS-Coronavirus 2 (GenBank MN908947.3, Protein QHD43423.2).
In vitro stimulation of antigen-specific T cells with PepTivator Peptide Pools causes the secretion of effector cytokines and the up-regulation of activation markers, which then allow the detection and isolation of antigen-specific T cells.

Background information

SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), also known as novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV, causes fever, severe respiratory illness and can lead to life threatening pneumonia. The first cases of this disease, termed COVID-19 for coronavirus disease 2019, have been detected in December 2019 Wuhan, China. SARS-CoV-2 Prot_N stands for the nucleocapsid phosphoprotein of SARS-CoV-2. This protein is responsible for the packaging of the genome of coronaviruses and, thus plays a role during replication, transcription as well as virion assembly. Therefore, the nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (“N”) of SARS-CoV-2 has been suggested as possible target for vaccine development.

Applications

PepTivator® SARS-CoV-2 Prot_N – research grade has been specifically developed for in vitro stimulation of SARS-CoV-2–specific T cells. Peptides of 15 amino acids in length and 11 amino acids overlap represent an optimized solution for stimulating both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in various applications, including:

• Detection and analysis of SARS-CoV-2–specific CD4+ and CD8+ effector/memory T cells in PBMCs by MACS® Cytokine Secretion Assays, intracellular cytokine staining, or other technologies.
• Isolation of viable SARS-CoV-2–specific CD4+ T cells with the CD154 MicroBead Kit, or of viable CD4+ and CD8+ T cells using MACS Cytokine Secretion Assay – Cell Enrichment and Detection Kits. Subsequently, cells can be expanded for generation of T cell lines.
• Generation of SARS-CoV-2–specific CD4+ and CD8+ effector/ memory T cells from naive T cell populations.
• Pulsing of antigen-presenting cells e.g. for research on dendritic cell vaccination.