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Types of hepatitis C vaccine
- Peptide vaccine: This type is very well tolerated and creates immunity based on presenting a specific peptide to a T-cell receptor. One of the most promising peptide hepatitis C vaccines is known as IC41. This variant uses five peptides, including the core protein and proteins NS3 and NS4. It has reached a phase II clinical trial, and it was well tolerated.
- Recombinant protein vaccine: This type of vaccine focuses on a few epitopes instead of many of them to trigger an immune response. The protein is prepared and cloned in bacteria, yeast cells, or mammalian tissue. Then, it is isolated and introduced in the individual to induce an immune response. This is the most widely studied type, following the lead of hepatitis B.
- Vector vaccine: Vectors are vehicles that introduce something in the body (as in bacterial infections passed down by animals) or inside the cell (as in certain viruses). In this case, vector vaccines use adenoviruses or poxviruses loaded with hepatitis C virus DNA to prompt the synthesis of key peptides and the immune response that follows. This approach still needs more research, but some variants have already reached phase II clinical trials.
- DNA vaccine: This type of vaccine uses a complete plasmid with genes. This plasmid triggers protein expression in vivo, and the body induces an immune response. The initial attempts of a DNA vaccine were not successful. Still, some methods were developed to overcome the problem by using tungsten particles to deliver the DNA material or electrical impulses that create cell pores. This has increased the vaccine’s effectiveness, and two of them have reached clinical trials in humans.
