HCV Glycoprotein Structure and Implications for B-Cell Vaccine Development.

ABSTRACT: Despite the approval of highly efficient direct-acting antivirals in the last decade Hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains a global health burden and the development of a vaccine would constitute an important step towards the control of HCV. The high genetic variability of the viral glycoproteins E1 and E2, which carry the main neutralizing determinants, together with their intrinsic structural flexibility, the high level of glycosylation that shields conserved neutralization epitopes and immune evasion using decoy epitopes renders the design of an efficient vaccine challenging. Recent structural and functional analyses have highlighted the role of the CD81 receptor binding site on E2, which overlaps with those neutralization epitopes within E2 that have been structurally characterized to date.

SUBMITTER: Stroh LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7555785 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature