Minicircle-based vaccine induces potent T-cell and antibody responses against hepatitis C virus.

ABSTRACT: An effective vaccine against hepatitis C virus (HCV) should elicit both humoral and cellular immune responses. Previously, we characterized a bivalent vaccine candidate against hepatitis B (HBV) and HCV using chimeric HBV-HCV virus-like particles (VLP), in which the highly conserved epitope of HCV E2 glycoprotein (residues 412-425) was inserted into the hydrophilic loop of HBV small surface antigen (sHBsAg). While sHBsAg_412-425 elicited cross-neutralizing antibodies, it did not trigger a T-cell response against HCV. Thus, this study aimed to develop a vaccine candidate engaging both arms of adaptive immune response, potentially offering stronger protection against HCV. We evaluated the immunogenicity of minicircle (MC) DNA vaccines encoding sHBsAg_412-425 and HCV nonstructural (NS) protei

SUBMITTER: Czarnota A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11535267 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature