AccScience Publishing / EJMO / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/EJMO026060074
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Identification of novel tumor antigens and immune subtypes in breast cancer patients for mRNA vaccine development

Jiayu Gu1,2 ,  Junping Liu3 ,  Haiyan Yu4 ,  Wei Zhang1,4,5*
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1 Department of Pharmacy, Shenzhen People’s Hospital (The First Affiliated Hospital, Southern University of Science and Technology; The Second Clinical Medical College, Jinan University), Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
2 Guangdong Provincial Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, Shenzhen Clinical Research Center for Geriatrics, Department of Geriatrics, Shenzhen People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
3 Department of Transfusion, The West China Hospital, The West China Tianfu Hospital, Sichuan University, Sichuan, China
4 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Pingshan General Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
5 Department of Clinical Laboratory, Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
EJMO, 026060074 https://doi.org/10.36922/EJMO026060074
Received: 8 February 2026 | Revised: 14 March 2026 | Accepted: 25 March 2026 | Published online: 25 May 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution -Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC-by the license) ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer has surpassed lung cancer to become the most prevalent malignant tumor worldwide. Although several mRNA vaccines have been developed, no ideal breast cancer vaccine has yet been applied clinically.

Objective: We sought to bridge fundamental tumor biology with translational vaccine development, ultimately providing a theoretical foundation for both breast cancer mRNA vaccines and individualized treatment approaches.

Methods: In this study, we performed integrated analyses using multiple publicly available expression datasets to identify novel potential tumor antigens for breast cancer and screen patient populations that may benefit from vaccination.

Results: We identified DST, ANO6, LAMA3, and NEDD9 as promising candidate antigens. In addition, we detected five predictive genes—TRBC2, CD3D, CD27, CD3E, and TRBV28—that can help recognize patients suitable for vaccine therapy. We further classified breast cancer into three immune subtypes, among which Cluster 1 and Cluster 3 exhibited low immune activity and were defined as “cold tumors,” which may be more responsive to vaccine treatment. Moreover, Cluster 1 and Cluster 3 could each be subdivided into two subgroups with distinct immune cell infiltration profiles, implying heterogeneous vaccine responses across these subgroups.

Conclusion: Collectively, our results provide a theoretical basis for the development of breast cancer mRNA vaccines and offer new insights into advancing personalized therapeutic strategies.

Keywords
mRNA vaccine
Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay
Immune subtypes
Breast cancer
Immune microenvironment
Funding
This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.82003172), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No.2020M673065), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No.2019A1515111138), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No.2020M683199), and the Guilin Science Research and Technology Development Project (No.20190218-5-5).
Conflict of interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The research was conducted without any commercial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Eurasian Journal of Medicine and Oncology, Electronic ISSN: 2587-196X Print ISSN: 2587-2400, Published by AccScience Publishing
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