Assessment of synthetic peptides of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus recognized by long-lasting immunity

: In order to determine highly immunogenic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS‐CoV) epitope peptides capable of inducing long‐lasting immunity, we first screened immunoglobulin‐G (IgG) antibodies reactive to 197 different overlapping 15‐mers from the SARS‐CoV proteins in the sera of three infected patients. Forty‐two peptides among them were reactive to the sera from all three patients. Consequently, we tested for the reactivity of these 42 peptides to patients' sera (n = 45) at 6‐month post‐infection. The significantly higher levels of IgG antibodies specific to three (S791, M207 and N161) of 42 peptides were detectable in the post‐infection sera from 23 (51%), 27 (60%) and 19 (42%) of 45 patients, respectively. These three peptides, recognized by their long‐lasting immunity, may provide a better understanding of the immunogenicity of SARS‐CoV.