Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a widespread
infectious disease in humans with the negative implication of becoming chronic in most persons. Patients infected with HCV are at risk of
liver cirrhosis or
hepatocellular carcinoma at later stages. In contrast to
hepatitis A and
hepatitis B, there is no immunization yet available, neither prophylactic nor therapeutic. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop a safe, protective
vaccine against this fatal disease. Developing countries are even more at risk for HCV. There are currently a number of scientific approaches aimed towards solving this problem. Taking both risks and costs of immunization into consideration, a
peptide-based
vaccine may be a reasonable prophylactic protection. Also, it might be of
therapeutic use in already infected patients by increasing a specific CTL response against HCV. In our lab, we are focusing on immunopotentiating reconstituted
influenza virosomes (IRIVs) as carriers for immunogenic HLA-A2-restricted core
epitopes to induce
peptide-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs). The IRIVs are similar to
liposomes, but in addition contain
influenza-derived
hemagglutinin and
neuraminidase on their outer surface which makes them fusogenic, thus, permitting
antigen delivery to host cells. So far,
virosomes have been successfully used for
vaccine development and as a result a virosomal
vaccine against both influenza virus (Inflexal) BERNA) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) (
Epaxal) BERNA) already exist on the market. This paper focuses on the importance of development of a successful
vaccine against HCV and, more specifically, we discuss the use, advantages and disadvantages of a
peptide-based
vaccine. A brief report of our latest findings will be included.