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Hepatitis B virus precore protein augments genetic immunizations of the truncated hepatitis C virus core in BALB/c mice
Author(s) -
Liao Guoyang,
Wang Yue,
Chang Jinhai,
Bian Tao,
Tan Wenjie,
Sun Mingbo,
Li Weidong,
Yang Huijuan,
Chen Junying,
Zhang Xinwen,
Bi Shengli,
Omata Masao,
Jiang Shude
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.21992
Subject(s) - virology , biology , ctl* , immune system , hepatitis b virus , virus , dna vaccination , antibody , antigen , plasmid , humoral immunity , cellular immunity , immunology , immunization , dna , cd8 , genetics
Abstract DNA immunization has been used to induce either humoral or cellular immune responses against many antigens, including hepatitis C virus (HCV). In addition, DNA immunizations can be enhanced or modulated at the nucleotide level. Genetic immunizations were examined in BALB/c mice through the use of plasmids and chimeric DNA constructs encoding HCV core proteins and hepatitis B virus (HBV) precore (preC) regions. Plasmids encoding the truncated HCV core induced potent humoral and cellular responses to HCV; pcDNA3.0A‐C154 produced a stronger antibody response than pcDNA3.0A‐C191 ( P < 0.01) and pcDNA3.0A‐C69 ( P < 0.05). HBV preC enhanced the humoral and cellular immune responses of BALB/c mice to HCV; however, pcDNA3.0A‐C69preC resulted in a weak cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response. In addition, the humoral and cellular immune responses to HCV of groups immunized with pcDNA3.0A‐C154preC and pcDNA3.0A‐C191preC plasmids were higher than those of groups immunized with pcDNA3.0A‐C154 and pcDNA3.0A‐C191. In vivo CTL responses verified that mice immunized with preC core fused DNAs showed significantly high specific lysis compared with mice immunized with HCV cores only ( P < 0.01). In our study, pcDNA3.0A‐C154preC led to the highest immune response among all DNA constructs. Conclusion : DNA that encodes truncated HCV core proteins may lead to increased immune responses in vivo , and these responses may be enhanced by HBV preC. (H EPATOLOGY 2007.)