Peptide vaccine design against glioblastoma by applying immunoinformatics approach

Brain tumors are considered to be one of the most fatal forms of cancer owing to their highly aggressive attributes, diverse characteristics, and notably low rate of survival. Among these tumors, glioblastoma stands out as the prevalent and perilous variant Despite the present advancements in surgical procedures, pharmacological treatment, and radiation therapy, the overall prognosis remains notably unfavorable, as merely 4.3 % of individuals manage to attain a five-year survival rate; For this reason, it has emerged as a challenge for cancer researchers. Therefore, among several immunotherapy methods, using peptide-based vaccines for cancer treatment is considered promising due to their ability to generate a focused immune response with minimal damage. This study endeavors to devise a multi-epitope vaccine utilizing an immunoinformatics methodology to address the challenge posed by glioblastoma disease. Through this approach, it is anticipated that the duration and expenses associated with vaccine manufacturing can be diminished, while simultaneously enhancing the characteristics of the vaccine. The target gene in this research is ITGA5, which was achieved through TCGA analysis by targeting the PI3K-Akt pathway as a significant association with patient survival. Subsequently, the suitable epitopes of T and B cells were selected through various immunoinformatics tools by analyzing their sequence. Then, nine epitopes were merged with GM-CSF as an adjuvant to enhance immunogenicity. The outcomes encompass molecular docking, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, simulation of the immune response, prognosis and confirmation of the secondary and tertiary structure, Chemical and physical characteristics, toxicity, as well as antigenicity and allergenicity of the potential vaccine candidate against glioblastoma.