Vaccination for hepatitis C virus: closing in on an evasive target

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects more than 170 million people globally and is a leading cause of liver cirrhosis, transplantation and hepatocellular carcinoma. Current gold-standard therapy often fails, has significant side effects in many cases and is expensive. No vaccine is currently available. The fact that a significant proportion of infected people spontaneously control HCV infection in the setting of an appropriate immune response suggests that a vaccine for HCV is a realistic goal. A comparative analysis of infected people with distinct clinical outcomes has enabled the characterization of many important innate and adaptive immune processes associated with viral control. It is clear that a successful HCV vaccine will need to exploit and enhance these natural immune defense mechanisms. New HCV vaccine approaches, including peptide, recombinant protein, DNA and vector-based vaccines, have recently reached Phase I/II human clinical trials. Some of these technologies have generated robust antiviral immunity in healthy volunteers and infected patients. The challenge now is to move forward into larger at-risk or infected populations to truly test efficacy.

Hepatitis C virus: Why an Enigma?

“…It is seen that the prophylactic vaccine induced immunity may not prevent HCV infection but stops the persistence of HCV. This might be an acceptable goal, because chronic persistence of the virus is the main cause of pathogenesis in case of HCV [34,35].…”

“…These include; peptide-based vaccines, DNA-based vaccines, recombinant protein-based vaccines, virus like particlesbased vaccines, viral vector-based vaccines, and dendritic cells(DCs) vaccines [33,35].…”

A Study on the Biological activity of Hepatitis C Analogs Prediction by QSAR -An Insilco Approach

“…Most experience minimal or no symptoms during the initial few decades of the infection 7 , although chronic hepatitis C can be associated with fatigue 8 . Hepatitis C after many years becomes the primary cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer.…”

Hepatitis C virus E2 protein encapsulation into poly D, L-lactic-<em>co</em>-glycolide&nbsp;microspheres could induce mice cytotoxic T-cell response

“…1,2 Most patients develop chronic infection, and this may lead to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). [3][4][5] Currently, there is no effective vaccine against HCV infection. The standard of treatment is the combined use of nucleoside analog ribavirin and pegylated interferon (IFN)-α; however, the efficacy of this treatment is limited and depends on the viral genotypes.…”

“…The standard of treatment is the combined use of nucleoside analog ribavirin and pegylated interferon (IFN)-α; however, the efficacy of this treatment is limited and depends on the viral genotypes. [5][6][7] HCV has been classified into the genus of the Flaviviridae family with enveloped plus-strand RNA virus. 8 The HCV genome contains 3,010 amino acids composed of structural and nonstructural proteins.…”