An Integrated Approach to Develop a Potent Vaccine Candidate Construct Against Prostate Cancer by Utilizing Machine Learning and Bioinformatics

Background

Prostate cancer is the most common malignancy among males. Prostaglandin G/H synthase (PGHS) is an essential enzyme in the synthesis of prostaglandins, and its activation has been linked to many malignancies, including colorectal cancer.

Aims

Due to the limited effectiveness and specificity of existing prostate cancer therapies, this study was designed to formulate improved treatment techniques.

Methods

Several immunoinformatic, reverse vaccinology, and molecular modeling methodologies were used to discover B- and T-cell epitopes for the glioblastoma multiforme tumor PGH2_HUMAN. This research evaluated Prostaglandin G/H synthase 2 protein as a potential vaccine candidate against the malignancy. The multi-epitope vaccine architecture is engineered to activate the immune system, with each epitope docked to its respective HLAs. Further, MD simulations analysis was performed to validate the findings.

Results

A multi-epitope subunit vaccine candidate was developed by concatenating the chosen B- and T-cell epitopes. Results yield a codon adaptive index (CAI) of 0.93 and a GC content of 56.77%. Thus, it conforms to a biological requirement for effective protein expression, suggesting competent vaccine efficacy inside the Escherichia coli system. Significant interleukin and cytokine responses were seen, characterized by elevated levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ in the immune system's response to the immunization. Molecular docking demonstrated an efficient binding affinity of −278 kcal/mol, with hydrogen bonding to several residues. Furthermore, the system total root mean square deviation (RMSD) reached 3.23 Å, with a maximum of up to 5.0 Å at the 100 ns time point but remains stable till 400 ns time intervals followed by stable root mean square fluctuation (RMSF) and radius of gyration values. The hydrogen bond cloud residues are the critical sites that significantly influence the binding energies of MMPBSA and MMGBSA via substantial van der Waals interactions.

Conclusion

It has been determined that these in silico analyses will further augment the comprehension necessary for advancing the creation of targeted therapies for chemotherapeutic cancer treatments.