Hepatitis C Virus Vaccines
Creative Biolabs is a world leader in the field of viral vaccine development. With our extensive experience and advanced platform, we are therefore confident in offering the best vaccine development services for Hepatitis C Virus. We guarantee the finest results for our customers all over the world.
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) that primarily affects the liver. During the initial infection, people often have no or mild symptoms. Occasionally a fever, abdominal pain, dark urine and yellow tinged skin occurs. The virus persists in the liver in around 75% to 85% of those initially infected. Early on chronic infection typically has no symptoms. Over many years, however, it often leads to liver disease or occasionally cirrhosis. In some cases, those with cirrhosis will develop complications such as dilated blood vessels in the esophagus and stomach or liver failure and liver cancer.
The Epidemiology of HCV Infection
Infection with HCV occurs throughout the world, with a current estimate of 170 million infected people. Much of the seroprevalence data are based on blood donors, who represent a carefully selected population in many countries. The prevalence of antibodies to HCV in blood donors varies from 0.02% in different countries, indicating ongoing or previous infection with this virus. Screening the blood of donors, hepatitis C accounts for the vast majority of non-A, non-B post-transfusion hepatitis. In addition, it is clear that while blood transfusion and the transfusion of blood products are efficient routes of transmission of HCV. Transmission of HCV from mother to infant occurs in about 10% of viraemic mothers and the risk appears to be related to the level of viraemia.
Fig.1 The host innate immune response for the infection of Hepatitis C Virus.
Persistence of HCV Infection is Common
HCV infection rarely seems to cause acute liver failure. Current data suggest that 60–80% of infections with HCV progress to chronicity. Histological examinations of liver biopsies from “healthy” HCV-carriers (blood donors) reveal that none has normal histology and that up to 70% have chronic active hepatitis or cirrhosis. Thus, in contrast to HBV infection, where persistent infections of immunocompetent adults are rare, persistent HCV infection seems to be the normal. The morbidity of chronic hepatitis C is affected by many interactive factors, including age of acquisition, concomitant alcohol abuse, gender, coexisting viral disease and the host immune response.
Prevention of HCV Infection
There are no vaccines available in the market to protect contacts of individuals with hepatitis C. Difficulties in traditional vaccine development include the sequence diversity between different viral groups and the substantial sequence heterogeneity among isolates in the N-terminal region of the E2 glycoprotein. However, secondary transmission should be relatively easy to prevent. In the future, the development of novel HCV vaccines may offer a suitable strategy.
The Development of HCV Vaccines
Several approaches for the HCV vaccines have been developed in Creative Biolabs:
- Vaccine using recombinant E1 and E2 proteins
- Synthetic vaccine
- Virus-like particles-based vaccine
- Viral vector vaccine
- DNA vaccine
- Dendritic cell vaccine
The high prevalence of global HCV infection obliges the development of new efforts in primary prevention; therefore, a safe and efficient vaccine to confer protection against HCV is urgently needed. Current data indicate that vaccines can usually not completely prevent HCV infection but rather prevent the progression of HCV infection to chronic and persistent infection, which may be a realistic goal.
Creative Biolabs is pleased to share our cutting-edge technology and extensive expertise in the field of Hepatitis C Virus vaccine development and has focused on the viral vaccines for years. We can offer high-quality customized services by adjusting protocols to meet even the most specific requirements. If you are interested in our services, please contact us for more details.
Reference
- Donato F. (2002). “Alcohol and hepatocellular carcinoma: the effect of lifetime intake and hepatitis virus infections in men and women”. American journal of epidemiology, 155(4), 323-331.
All of our products can only be used for research purposes. These vaccine ingredients CANNOT be used directly on humans or animals.
