EXPRESSION OF HEPATITIS C VIRUS STRUCTURAL PROTEINS

估计有3%的世界人口感染了丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）。超过80%的感染者成为慢性感染者，使他们面临肝硬化和肝癌的风险。到目前为止，还没有批准的疫苗，干扰素是唯一批准的治疗方法，但只能治愈20%的患者。HCV在组织培养中不能很好地生长，结构蛋白在各种系统中的异种表达只取得了中等程度的成功。纯化的HCV多肽数量有限，阻碍了对宿主免疫反应、病毒生物学以及疫苗和治疗方法开发的研究。本I期研究将测试利用独特的真核异源系统高效表达和分泌具有天然构象的重组病毒结构蛋白的可行性。使用该系统进行表达有可能产生大量高质量的蛋白质，用于各种用途，包括开发安全、有效和具有成本效益的疫苗。拟议的商业应用：全球有超过5亿人慢性丙型肝炎病毒感染；目前没有疫苗，治疗方法也有限。本研究将表达HCV结构蛋白，并评估重组蛋白的数量和质量。成功表达高水平的构象相关蛋白有助于开发安全、有效和经济有效的丙型肝炎疫苗。

An estimated 3% of the world population has been infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Greater than 80% of those infected individuals become chronically infected, putting them at risk for liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. To date there is no approved vaccine, and interferon the only approved treatment, resolves only 20% of those treated. HCV does not grow well in tissue culture and heterologous expression of the structural proteins in a variety of systems have met with only moderate success. The limited quantity of purified HCV polypeptides has hindered investigations into understanding the host immune response, virus biology, as well as, the development of vaccines and therapeutics. This Phase I research will test the feasibility of utilizing a unique eukaryotic heterologous system to efficiently express and secrete recombinant viral structural proteins that have native conformation. Use of this system for expression has the potential to produce large quantities of high quality protein for a variety of uses including the development of a safe, efficacious and cost effective vaccine. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: More than 500 million people world-wide are chronically infected with Hepatitis C virus; there is no vaccine, and therapies are limited. The proposed research will express the HCV structural proteins, and assess the quantity and quality of the recombinant protein. Successful expression of high levels of conformationally relevant protein could contribute to the development of a safe, efficacious and cost effective HCV vaccine.