Recombinant in vitro assembled hepatitis C virus core particles induce strong specific immunity enhanced by formulation with an oil-based adjuvant.

In the present work, immunogenicity of recombinant in vitro assembled hepatitis C virus core particles, HCcAg.120-VLPs, either alone or in combination with different adjuvants was evaluated in BALB/c mice. HCcAg.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein enhances the immunogenicity of a co-delivered DNA vaccine encoding HCV structural antigens in mice.

In the present study, recombinant HCV (hepatitis C virus) core proteins enhanced the immune response elicited by a co-delivered DNA vaccine encoding HCV core and envelope proteins. A mixture of the plasmid pIDKE2 and Co.173, a protein comprising the first 173 amino acids of HCV core, in particular induces a strong humoral response, including antibodies that recognized peptides representing hypervariable region I from different viral isolates.

Cell mediated immune response elicited in mice after immunization with the P64k meningococcal protein: epitope mapping.

The P64k protein of Neisseria meningitidis has been reported as an immunological carrier for weak immunogens. This investigation was aimed at characterizing the T-cell response produced in primed mice and at identifying T helper cell epitopes within this molecule. BALB/c mice subcutaneously immunized with the recombinant antigen provided inguinal lymph node cells (LNC) that proliferated in the presence of P64k in a dose-dependent manner.

Immunization with a DNA vaccine encoding the hepatitis-C-virus structural antigens elicits a specific immune response against the capsid and envelope proteins in rabbits and Macaca irus (crab-eating macaque monkeys).

In the present study, we evaluated the capability of the plasmid pIDKE2, encoding the HCV (hepatitis C virus) structural proteins Core, E1 and E2, to induce immune response against HCV antigens after injection into rabbits and Macaca irus (crab-eating macaque). Animals were immunized intramuscularly with different amounts of plasmid on weeks 0, 3 and 8. Monkeys received a booster dose on week 46.

In vitro self-assembled HCV core virus-like particles induce a strong antibody immune response in sheep.

The in vitro self-assembly properties of the entire hepatitis C virus core protein (HCcAg) obtained from Pichia pastoris cells and the induction of specific antibody immune response were studied. HCcAg was purified as a low-molecular-weight species by electroelution under denaturing conditions for confirmation of its self-assembly properties. After renaturalization, electron microscopy showed that HCcAg assembled into spherical particles of 30 nm.