DNA Vaccination of the Induction of Imm une Responses by Hepatitis C Strutural Antigens

Two recombinant plasmids were constructed. These include the coding regions for the core protein (pC) and for the core, E 1 and E 2 together (pCE 1E 2). These plasmids were transfected into mammalian cells to test their protein expression and injected into the quadriceps muscles of BALB/C mice to measure specific antibodies and cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses. All the recombinant plasmids were shown to express specific antigens transiently and stably in cells and elicited both specific antibody responses and specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses. The A value of anticore were 0.3580.096 (pC) and 0.4150.127 (pCE 1E 2). The CTL activity of pC was 18.65%5.71% and 20.07%11.11% of pCE 1E 2. Genetic immunization can aid the development of hepatitis C virus vaccines by allowing for the rapid construction and evaluation of different expression plasmids as potential immunogens.