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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Nov 14, 2015; 21(42): 11984-12002
Published online Nov 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i42.11984
Progress in the development of vaccines for hepatitis C virus infection
Faezeh Ghasemi, Sina Rostami, Zahra Meshkat
Faezeh Ghasemi, Department of New Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 9196773117, Iran
Sina Rostami, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad 9177948974, Iran
Sina Rostami, The Influenza Centre, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, N-5021 Bergen, Norway
Zahra Meshkat, Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 9196773117, Iran
Author contributions: Ghasemi F, Rostami S and Meshkat Z wrote the paper based on the results of published materials; The manuscript was further read and approved by all the authors.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Zahra Meshkat, PhD, Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad 9196773117, Iran. meshkatz@mums.ac.ir
Telephone: +98-51-38012453 Fax: +98-51-38002287
Received: April 28, 2015
Peer-review started: May 7, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: July 19, 2015
Accepted: September 14, 2015
Article in press: September 14, 2015
Published online: November 14, 2015
Abstract

The hepatitis C virus (HCV), first described in 1989, is now a leading cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. With more than 170 million people infected globally, this virus is a major public health issue. The current standard therapy is based on interferon in combination with ribavirin. This costly therapy often fails to completely clear the infection and is associated with adverse side effects. Recent anti-HCV therapies are interferon-free direct-acting antiviral (DAA) regimens for HCV, including simeprevir, sofosbuvir, and ledipasvir, which have effects on non-structural proteins. DAA regimens have several advantages, such as specifically targeting HCV viral replication, accompanied by very high sustained virological response rates and lower side effects like flu-like syndrome. These facts plus the fact that most HCV cases progress to chronic infection suggest the potential need for an efficient HCV vaccine. Different innovative methods, including methods based on peptide, recombinant protein, DNA, vector-based, and virus-like particles, have been introduced for the development of HCV vaccines. An extensive number of studies have been published on these vaccines, and some vaccines were even tested in clinical trials. In the current review, progress in the development of preventive and therapeutic vaccines against the HCV is reviewed in the context of peptide vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, HCV-like particle, DNA vaccines and viral vectors expressing HCV genes.

Keywords: Preventive vaccine, Therapeutic vaccine, Hepatitis C virus, Hepatitis C virus infection

Core tip: Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection occurs in about 75%-90% of acutely infected individuals. It may progress to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma. Despite satisfactory progress in the management and treatment of chronic hepatitis C, it remains one of the most prominent viral infections worldwide. Although no reliable vaccine for it has yet been developed, researchers are trying to design and develop different types of vaccines to prevent HCV infection or to cure the chronic form of the disease. The current article provides an overview of the latest progress in the development of preventive and therapeutic vaccines against HCV infection in the context of peptide vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, HCV-like particle, DNA vaccines, and viral vectors expressing HCV genes.