"To target these antigens" means to seek out and attack specific substances in the body that are harmful or foreign, usually as part of the immune response. Full definition
Note that the possibility of vaccine - driven virulence evolution is conceptually distinct from vaccine - driven epitope evolution (antigenic escape), in which variants of target antigens evolve because they enable pathogens that are otherwise less fit to evade vaccine - induced immunity. (journals.plos.org)
Areas of focus include: understanding how tumour - reactive T cells and B cells promote patient survival in cancer; defining the effects of standard treatments on tumor immunity; and using genomic approaches to identify novel tumour mutations that can serve as target antigens for immunotherapy. (bccrc.ca)
Molecular mimicry is the tendency of the immune system to cross-react from a primary target antigen to other, unrelated peptides («neo-epitopes») with distinct amino acid sequences and / or similar conformational structures. (sens.org)