Hepatitis E: an overview and recent advances in vaccine research.

Abstract

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an unclassified, small, non-enveloped RNA virus, as a causative agent of acute hepatitis E that is transmitted principally via the fecal-oral route. The virus can cause large water-born epidemics of the disease and sporadic cases as well. Hepatitis E occurs predominantly in developing countries, usually affecting young adults, with a high fatality rate up to 15-20% in pregnant women. However, no effective treatment currently exists for hepatitis E, and the only cure is prevention. But so far there are no commercial vaccines for hepatitis E available in the world. Although at least four major genotypes of HEV have been identified to date, only one serotype of HEV is recognized. So there is a possibility to produce a broadly protective vaccine. Several studies for the development of an effective vaccine against hepatitis E are in progress and the best candidate at present for a hepatitis E vaccine is a recombinant HEV capsid antigen expressed in insect cells from a baculovirus vector. In this article, the recent advances of hepatitis E and the development of vaccine research for HEV including recombinant protein vaccine, DNA vaccine and the recombinant hepatitis E virus like particles (rHEV VLPs) are briefly reviewed.

• Authors: Ling Wang, Hui Zhuang
• Journal: World journal of gastroenterology (World J Gastroenterol) Vol. 10 Issue 15 Pg. 2157-62 (Aug 01 2004) ISSN: 1007-9327 [Print] United States
• PMID: 15259057 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)

Chemical References

• Viral Hepatitis Vaccines

Topics

• Animals
• Biomedical Research (trends)
• Clinical Trials as Topic
• Gastroenterology (trends)
• Genome, Viral
• Hepatitis E (genetics, prevention & control)
• Humans
• Viral Hepatitis Vaccines (therapeutic use)