On November 11, a research group consisting of Professor Hirofumi Akari of the Primates Research Institute of Kyoto University and Takanobu Kato, Director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, announced that they have developed a new hepatitis C virus infection preventive vaccine.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a virus that causes chronic hepatitis and causes cirrhosis and liver cancer.In recent years, direct-acting antiviral drugs that inhibit HCV replication have been developed, and the cure rate for chronic hepatitis C has also increased.However, this treatment is expensive and there is a risk of reinfection after healing.In developing countries, the spread of infection is still widespread, so there is a need to develop a new HCV vaccine that can prevent infection and onset.
Therefore, the research group has been studying an inactivated HCV vaccine by culturing a large amount of HCV particles by applying the technology of the HCV proliferation system using cultured cells.This time, when inactivated HCV particles were inoculated into a common marmoset together with K3-SPG, which is a novel adjuvant (a reinforcing agent that enhances the immune response of vaccine cells), both neutralizing antibodies effective in preventing infection and cell-mediated immunity were efficient. For the first time, it was revealed that it can be guided well.
The results of this research indicate that inactivated HCV particles produced from cultured cells may be used as an effective and safe HCV vaccine when inoculated with K3-SPG, which is a powerful novel adjuvant.In the future, we aim to put the HCV vaccine into practical use at an early stage by optimizing the mass synthesis technology of inactivated HCV particles and the vaccination protocol.
