Scientists reengineer critical proteins on the surface of HCV, paving the way for a new vaccine design.
Scripps Research Institute press release
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects an estimated 50 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization, and remains a leading cause of cirrhosis and liver cancer. While antiviral drugs can cure most infections, global access remains limited and these drugs do not stop reinfection.
This is why a durable vaccine is critically needed. Developing one has proven exceptionally challenging, however, as HCV evades immune detection using two distinct proteins that coat its surface. These proteins, known collectively as the E1E2 glycoprotein complex, have been historically difficult to produce in the stable, native form needed for vaccination.
In a new Nature Communications study, scientists at Scripps Research have now engineered that native-like, stabilized version of HCV’s E1E2 complex and used it to build a nanoparticle-based vaccine candidate. The approach uses a technology called self-assembling protein nanoparticles, or SApNPs, which organizes many copies of the proteins into virus-like clusters that the immune system can more easily recognize.
Read the full press release here.
Source : Scripps Research Institute
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