Open AccessHepatitis C virus-specific cellular and humoral immune responses following immunization with a multi-epitope fusion protein
Author(s) -
Feng Qiu,
Shengli Bi,
Yue Wang,
Min-Zhuo Guo,
Yi Yao,
Si-yong Chen,
Yu Guo,
Liping Shen,
Zhiyuan Jia
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal of molecular medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.048
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1791-244X
pISSN - 1107-3756
DOI - 10.3892/ijmm.2011.801
Subject(s) - epitope , virology , immune system , hepatitis c virus , ns3 , biology , fusion protein , antibody , humoral immunity , immunology , neutralizing antibody , cellular immunity , antigen , virus , cytotoxic t cell , recombinant dna , in vitro , biochemistry , gene
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important causative agent of acute and chronic hepatitis worldwide. We prepared a fusion protein in the vector of pET-11d that included three conserved broadly neutralizing B-cell epitopes and a series of T-cell epitopes located in the HCV NS3 region. In vivo administration of this fusion construct resulted in specific CD8+ cytotoxic lymphocytes in both PBMCs and splenocytes that could recognize specific antigen sites that could be detected by FACS. An HCVcc system was established and applied to detect HCV-specific neutralizing antibodies. These results suggest that the multi-epitope fusion protein is immunogenic and can elicit both humoral and cellular immune responses. In particular, this fusion protein is able to elicit HCV-specific neutralizing antibodies, which are critical for viral clearance. This construct may be significant for vaccine development and could be a potential candidate to be included in the design of a prophylactic and therapeutic vaccine against HCV.