Michael JONATHAN, Nadya Marcelina JULIANTO, Angelika, Arli Aditya PARIKESIT

Glypican-3 as a potential hepatocellular carcinoma peptide vaccine candidate for the Indonesian population

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most common cancer-related death worldwide, including in Indonesia. However, to date, there is still no effective treatment. As immunotherapy has gained more attention, this study aims to develop a peptide vaccine derived from GPC3. NetCTLPan1.1 and NetMHCPan were utilized to discover GPC3 based CTL and HTL epitopes, respectively. The peptide sequence was analyzed for its immunogenicity, IFNγ inducing capabilities, and population coverage; sixstrong peptide candidates were chosen to create the vaccine. The 3D structure of the peptide vaccine was predicted using RaptorX, refined using GalaxyWEB, and then evaluated for the Ramachandran favored score using SwissProt Expasy before being docked. A peptide vaccine of GPC3-derived peptide was constructed and proven to have potent immunogenicity, antigenicity, and population coverage. Docking results using the 3D structure against different HLA alleles reveal promising interactions, thus predicted to be able to induce T cell response. The peptide vaccine is highly potential as an alternative treatment for HCC, but further in vitro and in vivo studies should be performed to confirm these findings.

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