Potent Anti-hepatitis C Virus (HCV) T Cell Immune Responses Induced in Mice Vaccinated with DNA-Launched RNA Replicons and Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara-HCV.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV) affecting 71 million people worldwide with no licensed vaccines that prevent infection. Here, we have generated four novel alphavirus-based DNA-launched self-amplifying RNA replicon (DREP) vaccines expressing either structural core-E1-E2 or nonstructural p7-NS2-NS3 HCV proteins of genotype 1a placed under the control of an alphavirus promoter, with or without an alphaviral translational enhancer (grouped as DREP-HCV or DREP-e-HCV, respectively). DREP vectors are known to induce cross-priming and further stimulation of immune responses through apoptosis, and here we demonstrate that they efficiently trigger apoptosis-related proteins in transfected cells. Immunization of mice with the DREP vaccines as the priming immunizat

SUBMITTER: Marin MQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6430543 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature