title: Mimotopes of the hyper variable region 1 of the hepatitis C virus induce cross-reactive antibodies directed against discontinuous epitopes.
abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause worldwide of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and the development of an effective vaccine represents a high priority goal. The hyper variable region 1 (HVR1) of the second envelope protein (E2) of HCV contains a principal neutralizing determinant, but it is highly variable among different isolates and it is involved in the escape from host immune response. To be effective, a vaccine should elicit a cross-reacting humoral response against the majority of viral variants. We show that it is possible to achieve a broadly cross-reactive immune response in rabbits by immunization with mimotopes of the HVR1, selected from a specialized phage library using HCV patients' sera. Some of the cross-reacting anti-mimotope antibodies elicited in rabbits, recognize discontinuous epitopes in a manner similar to those induced by the virus in infected patients.
authors.affiliation: Istituto di Ricerche di Biologia Molecolare "P. Angeletti", Via Pontina Km 30.600, 00040 Pomezia, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Roccasecca
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Folgori
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Ercole
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Puntoriero
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lahm
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zucchelli
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tafi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pezzanera
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Galfre
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tramontano
authors.forename: M U
authors.initials: MU
authors.lastname: Mondelli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pessi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nicosia
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cortese
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meola
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D003429:Cross Reactions; D005260:Female; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000276:immunology*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000276:immunology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019151:Peptide Library; D011817:Rabbits; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D019151:Peptide Library; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines; C091015:glycoprotein E2, Hepatitis C virus