Journal article
Characterization of a hepatitis C virus-like particle vaccine produced in a human hepatocyte-derived cell line
L Earnest-Silveira, B Chua, R Chin, D Christiansen, D Johnson, S Herrmann, SA Ralph, K Vercauteren, A Mesalam, P Meuleman, S Das, I Boo, H Drummer, CT Bock, EJ Gowans, DC Jackson, J Torresi
Journal of General Virology | MICROBIOLOGY SOC | Published : 2016
DOI: 10.1099/jgv.0.000493
Abstract
An effective immune response against hepatitis C virus (HCV) requires the early development of multi-specific class 1 CD8+ and class II CD4+ T-cells together with broad neutralizing antibody responses. We have produced mammalian-cell-derived HCV virus-like particles (VLPs) incorporating core, E1 and E2 of HCV genotype 1a to produce such immune responses. Here we describe the biochemical and morphological characterization of the HCV VLPs and study HCV core-specific T-cell responses to the particles. The E1 and E2 glycoproteins in HCV VLPs formed non-covalent heterodimers and together with core protein assembled into VLPs with a buoyant density of 1.22 to 1.28 g cm–3. The HCV VLPs could be imm..
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Grants
Awarded by Australian Government
Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported by research grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (project grant APP1060436), Australian Center for HIV and Heptitis Virology (ACH2), Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care, Australia; Australia-India Biotechnology Research Fund (BF040005), Department of Innovation and Industry, Australian Commonwealth Government. J.T. is supported by an NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (APP1060433) and E.G. by a NHMRC Senior Research Fellow award (grant number 543139) and S.R. by a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (APP1062504). We wish to thank Professor Hanswalter Zentgraf, Heidelberg University, Germany, for performing the immunogold electron microscopy. We wish to thank Dr Eric Hanssen, The University of Melbourne, for assistance with electron tomography. Experiments involving animals were approved by the animal ethics committee of the University of Melbourne (AEC numbers 0707207 and 061061). Experiments involving human sera collected from HCVinfected individuals and de-identified prior to use were approved by HREC of Melbourne Health, Parkville, Australia (HREC 2003.258). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.