Induction of Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte Response against the Core and NS3 Genes of the Hepatitis C Virus in Balb/c Mice

  • Kim, Na-Young (Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics and Department of Molecular Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Sohn, He-Kwang (Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Choe, Joon-Ho (Department of Biological Sciences, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Park, Sang-Dai (Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics and Department of Molecular Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University) ;
  • Seong, Rho-Hyun (Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics and Department of Molecular Biology, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul National University)
  • Published : 1999.09.01

Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive strand RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family and the major cause of post-transfusion non-A, non-B hepatitis. Vaccine development for HCV is essential but has been slowed by poor understanding of the type of immunity that naturally terminates HCV infection. The DNA-based immunization technique offers the potential advantage of including cellular immune responses against conserved internal proteins of a virus, as well as the generation of antibodies to viral surface proteins. Here, we demonstrate that cell lines expressing the HCV core and/or NS3 proteins can induce a specific CTL response in mice, and these results suggest a possibility that the HCV core and NS3 DNA can be used to induce CTL activity against the antigen in mice and can be further developed as a therapeutic and preventive DNA vaccine.

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