The Evaluation of Hepatitis C Virus Core Antigen in Immunized Balb/C Mice

Abstract

Background Hepatitis infection represents one of the important causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, however there is not any effective vaccine against hepatitis C which is one of the significant problems in vaccine project. Objectives The aim of the present study is to evaluate the role of HCV core protein in inducing IFN-Gamma secretion and TCL activities as a vaccine in Balb/C mice. Material and Methods Our previous cloned plasmid (HCV Core gene into pETDuet-1) applied for protein expression in bacteria. The expressed and purified recombinant protein together with Freund’s adjuvant was injected to 15 Balb/c mice. The total IgG and IgG2a of immunized mice sera were evaluated after a week. Two weeks after booster injection, we studied the proliferation and IFNγ secretion of spleens, inguinal and popliteal lymph nodes lymphocytes by ELISA and ELISPOT. Results The FSFC (Frequency of spot forming cells) of secreting cells of immunized mice with HCV/Core protein and sera IgG2a were considerably higher than the control groups. Conclusions The core protein together with proper adjuvant can be a candidate vaccine against of HCV infection.

Expression and Purification of HCV Core and Core-E1E2 Proteins in Different Bacterial Strains

“…One of the major problems in development of HCV vaccine is its wide genetic variants. It has been shown that core antigen is a highly conserved protein (2). Serum antibodies against HCV core protein epitopes (residues 7-21, 31-45, 49-63, 99-113) were shown in HCV patients.…”

“…Due to contribution of all amino acid residues of HCV core, total of 191 amino acids of this protein were included in vaccine design. Indeed, the conservative feature of the core gene in different HCV genotypes and the low susceptible of mutation in this region, make this protein an ideal candidate for HCV vaccine (2). Therefore, the production of core protein was done in different expression systems (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17).…”

Different protein expression systems can influence the direction of the immune responses against HCV core protein in animal model

“…HCV core antigen is a highly conserved protein and a major target to develope HCV preventive vaccines [19]. The generation of the core protein has been attempted in various expression systems [9,10,[12][13][14].…”