Immunoinformatics-driven multi-epitope vaccine design targeting PSMA, STEAP1, and B7H3 for prostate cancer
Stefanus Vicky Bernhard Elisa Runtunuwu1, Trina Ekawati Tallei2,3,4, Hyo Jeong Kim4
1Medical Education Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, Sam Ratulangi University, Manado, Indonesia.
Introduction:
Prostate cancer remains a major global health challenge, necessitating precision immunotherapeutic strategies tailored to tumor-associated antigens. This study aimed to design a multi-epitope peptide vaccine targeting prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of prostate 1 (STEAP1), and B7-H3, three biomarkers strongly associated with prostate cancer progression.
Methods:
A multi-layered immunoinformatics-driven approach was employed, integrating epitope prediction, antigenicity and immunogenicity assessment, allergenicity and toxicity screening, population coverage analysis, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations. Selected epitopes were assembled into a vaccine construct using appropriate adjuvants and linkers to enhance immune activation and structural stability.
Results:
The designed vaccine construct demonstrated extensive global HLA allele coverage (97.51%), strong binding affinity to B-cell receptors, MHC molecules, and favorable structural stability during molecular dynamics simulations.
Discussion:
These findings suggest that the proposed multi-epitope vaccine represents a promising immunotherapeutic candidate for prostate cancer and warrants further experimental validation.
