Immunization with a synthetic multiepitope antigen induces humoral and cellular immune responses to hepatitis C virus in mice.
The immunogenicity of a synthetic multiepitope PCX3 antigen, which contains triple tandem repeats of five conserved epitopes from hepatitis C virus (HCV) polyprotein, was studied in BALB/c mice given three intraperitoneal injections of antigen with Freund's adjuvant. Both a strong antibody response and specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes were induced. The specific anti-PCX3 IgG was able to bind HCV particles from hepatitis C patient sera by incubation overnight. In particular, in transgenic mice with chimeric human livers, anti-PCX3 antibody was able to lower the viral load in two of five mice and to eliminate HCV infection in three of five mice by 2 wk after inoculation with HCV-positive serum from patients. These results indicated that the synthetic multiepitope PCX3 antigen elicits a potent humoral and cellular immune response against HCV.
Chen
Lishan
L
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Genetics, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Gao
Tienjun
T
Yang
Nan
N
Huang
Jiansheng
J
Chen
Yuhan
Y
Gao
Tong
T
Li
Qihan
Q
Ren
Daming
D
D000818:Animals; D000939:Epitopes; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood* / Q000276:immunology; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D007114:Immunization; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D010957:Plasmids; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
D000939:Epitopes; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines; D014764:Viral Proteins