Progress in Vaccine Development of Hepatitis C Virus / 中国生物工程杂志

ABSTRACT

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) accounts for the majority of cases of transfusion acquired hepatitis and may cause chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, there is no vaccine against HCV and treatment is expensive and not always effective.The adaptive host immune response in viral clearance of HCV infection was described and the recent progress in vaccine development of HCV, focusing on the fields of DNA vaccine candidates, recombinant viral vectored vaccine candidates and combined (prime-boost) vaccine candidates were summarized. Some challenges and limitations of developing a HCV vaccine were also analysed. In summary, a promising approach of developing an experimental HCV vaccine to induce extremely potent and broad T-cell responses based on prime-boost strategy was presented.