Screening of tumor antigens and immunogenic cell death landscapes of prostate adenocarcinoma for exploration of mRNA vaccine.

Background: In this study, effective antigens of mRNA vaccine were excavated from the perspective of ICD, and ICD subtypes of PRAD were further distinguished to establish an ICD landscape, thereby determining suitable vaccine recipients.

Research design and methods: TCGA and MSKCC databases were applied to acquire RNA-seq data and corresponding clinical data of 554 and 131 patients, respectively. GEPIA was employed to measure prognostic indices. Then, a comparison of genetic alterations was performed utilizing cBioPortal, and correlation of identified ICD antigens with immune infiltrating cells was analyzed employing TIMER. Moreover, ICD subtypes were identified by means of consensus cluster, and ICD landscape of PRAD was depicted utilizing graph learning-based dimensional reduction.

Results: In total, 4 PRAD antigens were identified in PRAD, including FUS, LMNB2, RNPC3, and ZNF700, which had association with adverse prognosis and infiltration of APCs. PRAD patients were classified as two ICD subtypes based on their differences in molecular, cellular, and clinical features. Furthermore, ICD modulators and immune checkpoints were also differentially expressed between two ICD subtype tumors. Finally, the ICD landscape of PRAD showed substantial heterogeneity among individual patients.

Conclusions: In summary, the research may provide a theoretical foundation for developing mRNA vaccine against PRAD as well as determining appropriate vaccine recipients.