Hepatitis C virus: why do we need a vaccine to prevent a curable persistent infection?

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Christopher M Walker, Ohio State University; Arash Grakoui, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2015-08-01
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2015.06.010
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Current Opinion in Immunology
• ISSN: 0952-7915
• Volume: 35
• Start Page: 137
• End Page: 143
• Grant/Funding Information: This manuscript was supported by The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R37 AI047367 and R01 AI96882 (CMW), R01 AI070101 and R21 AI11837 (AG), and P510D011132 to the Yerkes National Primate Center.
• Keywords: NEUTRALIZING ANTIBODIES; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; TO-CELL TRANSMISSION; IMMUNE-RESPONSES; HEPATOMA-CELLS; HCV VACCINE; CHIMPANZEES; CLEARANCE; Science & Technology; PROTECT; Immunology; MICE; REINFECTION
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Health Sciences, Immunology; Health Sciences, Pharmacology

Abstract

Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is now curable by antiviral therapy but the global burden of liver disease is unlikely to diminish without a vaccine to prevent transmission. The objective of HCV vaccination is not to induce sterilizing immunity, but instead to prevent persistent infection. One vaccine that incorporates only non-structural HCV proteins is now in phase I/II efficacy trials to test the novel concept that T cell priming alone is sufficient for protection. Evidence also suggests that antibodies contribute to infection resolution. Vaccines comprised of recombinant envelope glycoproteins targeted by neutralizing antibodies have been assessed in humans for immunogenicity. Here, we discuss current concepts in protective immunity and divergent approaches to vaccination against a highly mutable RNA virus.