Human monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and prevention of hepatitis C virus infection

慢性丙型肝炎病毒是一种血液传播的感染，可导致非常严重的肝病。最严重的肝病只能通过肝移植来治疗。移植肝的再感染通常很快，目前的治疗方法对这类患者无效。人们正在寻找替代疗法，特别是针对这类患者。因此，我们将从自然清除病毒的个体中分离出人类单抗。这些抗体将为预防移植后再感染提供重要的先导疗法，还将提供有助于疫苗设计的重要信息。这项工作的一个重要方面将是研究病毒在感染期间如何变化，以便识别那些针对最广泛病毒株的抗体。

Chronic Hepatitis C virus is a blood-borne infection that can result in development of very serious liver disease. The most severe forms of liver disease can only be treated by liver transplantation. Re-infection of the transplanted liver is often rapid and current treatments are ineffective in this group of patients. Alternative therapies are sought, particularly for this group of patients. Therefore, we will isolate human monoclonal antibodies from individuals who have naturally cleared virus. These antibodies will provide important lead therapies to prevent transplant re-infection and will also provide important information that will help vaccine design. An important aspect of this work will be to study how the virus changes during infection, so that those antibodies that target the widest range of virus strains are identified.