Hepatitis C Vaccine; Current Status of The Vaccine

What would we expect from the vaccine?

Despite the obstacles depicted above, researchers are still trying to develop a vaccine against hepatitis C infection. The ideal vaccine should have specific characteristics. For example:

• It should be able to provide immunization despite high genetic diversity levels. Thus, it should aim at common proteins or viral regions conserved in most types and subtypes.
• The vaccine should prompt a robust T-cell response, and very likely a humoral response as well.
• The vaccine should induce a robust immune response, but it should not cause liver injury in infected individuals.
• The early stages of the development should use a realistic model of infection. One of them was developed in 2005 using human hepatoma cells.
• Late studies and clinical trials in humans should include high-risk populations (drug users and some developing countries). Otherwise, the low rate of hepatitis C infections in developed countries may cause limitations in assessing the vaccine’s efficacy.