title: A novel hepatitis C virus vaccine approach using recombinant Bacillus Calmette-Guerin expressing multi-epitope antigen.
abstract: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease worldwide. HCV infection is associated with high morbidity and has become a major problem in public health. Until now, there has been no effective prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine. BCG, a live vaccine typically used for tuberculosis prevention, has been increasingly utilized as a vector for the expression of recombinant proteins that will induce specific humoral and cellular immune responses. In this study, recombinant BCG (rBCG) was engineered to express a HCV multi-epitope antigen CtEm, and HLA-A2.1 transgenic mice were immunized with rBCG-CtEm. High levels of specific anti-HCV antibodies targeted to mimotopes of HVR1 were detected in the serum. HCV-specific lymphocyte proliferation assay, cytokine determination and cytotoxicity assay indicated that HCV epitope-specific cellular immune responses were elicited in vitro. The rBCG-CtEm immunization conferred protection against infection with the recombinant vaccinia virus (rVV-HCV-CNS) in vivo. These results suggest that rBCG expressing multi-epitope antigen may serve as an effective vaccine against HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: The State Key Discipline and Department of Microbiology, Fourth Military Medical University of PLA, 17 Changlexi Road, 710032 Xi'an, China.
authors.forename: S-H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Q-X
authors.initials: QX
authors.lastname: An
authors.forename: Y-F
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: X-B
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Z-K
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002455:Cell Division; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003601:Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000235:genetics; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000276:immunology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology*; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D007114:Immunization; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009163:Mycobacterium bovis / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000276:immunology*; D014615:Vaccinia / Q000517:prevention & control; D014616:Vaccinia virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D000939:Epitopes; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D018937:Hepatitis C Antibodies; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; D014761:Viral Hepatitis Vaccines; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins; C091015:glycoprotein E2, Hepatitis C virus