Targeting SOX9: designing a novel vaccine against triple-negative breast cancer

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive breast cancer subtype that lacks targeted therapies. This study aimed to design a novel multi-epitope peptide vaccine targeting SOX9, a transcription factor associated with TNBC progression. Using an immunoinformatic approach, B-cell, helper T lymphocyte (HTL), and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes with high antigenicity, non-toxicity, and non-allergenicity were identified. These epitopes were linked with appropriate spacers and fused to the 50 S ribosomal protein L7/L12 adjuvant to construct the vaccine. Physicochemical analysis predicted the construct to be stable, soluble, and suitable for expression. Structural modeling and refinement confirmed its quality, while molecular docking and dynamics simulations demonstrated favorable interactions with TLR2 and TLR4 receptors. Immune simulations predicted the strong cellular and humoral immune responses. These findings suggest that the designed vaccine holds substantial promise as a candidate for TNBC immunotherapy and merits further experimental validation.