By MedPage Today Staff
Published: April 06, 2012
HCV Vaccine Possibly Within Reach
Researchers have identified a possible new target for the development of a vaccine against the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Such a vaccine -- which could help control the growing global problem of HCV infection – has been difficult to come by because the virus's constant mutations have thwarted previous attempts to attack it.
Mansun Law, PhD, of the Scripps Research Institute, and colleagues identified a site on the viral envelope involved in fusing the virus to target cells that remains relatively stable, even among divergent strains. Using a technique called exhaustive panning, the researchers identified 73 new antibodies in patients with HCV infection that had neutralizing activity at that site.
One -- AR4A -- stood out from the rest, showing broad neutralizing ability for all 22 HCV strains tested in the lab. The antibody also protected mice from infection with two widely different strains of HCV.
The findings were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
-- T.N.
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