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Structural and Biophysical Characterization of the HCV E1E2 Heterodimer for Vaccine Development.

ABSTRACT: An effective vaccine for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major unmet medical and public health need, and it requires an antigen that elicits immune responses to multiple key conserved epitopes. Decades of research have generated a number of vaccine candidates; based on these data and research through clinical development, a vaccine antigen based on the E1E2 glycoprotein complex appears to be the best choice. One bottleneck in the development of an E1E2-based vaccine is that the antigen is challenging to produce in large quantities and at high levels of purity and antigenic/functional integrity. This review describes the production and characterization of E1E2-based vaccine antigens, both membrane-associated and a novel secreted form of E1E2, with a particular emphasis on the major challenges facing the field and how those challenges can be addressed.

SUBMITTER: Toth EA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8227786 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Structural and Biophysical Characterization of the HCV E1E2 Heterodimer for Vaccine Development.

Toth Eric A EA Chagas Andrezza A Pierce Brian G BG Fuerst Thomas R TR

Viruses 20210529 6

An effective vaccine for the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major unmet medical and public health need, and it requires an antigen that elicits immune responses to multiple key conserved epitopes. Decades of research have generated a number of vaccine candidates; based on these data and research through clinical development, a vaccine antigen based on the E1E2 glycoprotein complex appears to be the best choice. One bottleneck in the development of an E1E2-based vaccine is that the antigen is chall ...[more]

PMID: 34072451

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