Abstract
Cellular immune response plays an important role in the clearance of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Thus, development of efficient ways to induce anti-viral cellular immune responses is an important step toward prevention and/or treatment of HCV infection. With this aim, we have constructed a replication-deficient recombinant adenovirus expressing HCV NS3 protein (RAdNS3). The efficacy of RAdNS3 was tested in vivo by measuring the protection against infection with a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing HCV-polyprotein (vHCV1-3011). Immunisation with 10 9 pfu of RAdNS3 induced anti-NS3 humoral, T helper and T cytotoxic responses. We identified eight epitopes recognised by IFN-γ producing cells, five of them exhibiting lytic activity. Moreover, we show that RAdNS3 immunised mice were protected against challenge with vHCV1-3011 and that this protection was mediated by CD8 + cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that adenoviral vectors encoding NS3 might be useful for the induction of prophylactic and/or therapeutic anti-HCV immunity.
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