Prospects for Prophylactic and Therapeutic Vaccines Against Hepatitis C Virus

Natural cross-protective immunity is induced after spontaneous clearance of primary hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Although this suggests that effective prophylactic vaccines against HCV are possible, there are still several areas that require further study. Current data indicate that, at best, vaccine-induced immunity may not completely prevent HCV infection but rather prevent persistence of the virus. However, this may be an acceptable goal, because chronic persistence of the virus is the main cause of pathogenesis and the develop-ment of serious liver conditions. Therapeutic vaccine development is also highly challenging; however, strat-egies have been pursued in combination with current or new treatments in an effort to reduce the costs and adverse effects associated with antiviral therapy. This review summarizes the current state of HCV vaccines and the challenges faced for future development and clinical trial design. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem in the United States and worldwide, with the majority of acute infections progressing to chronicity in the absence of therapy [1]. HCV is associated with 40%–60 % of chronic liver disease cases in the United States, and approximately 30 % of these patient