Immunoinformatics-driven multi-epitope vaccine design targeting PSMA, STEAP1, and B7H3 for prostate cancer

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.