Evaluation of operational chronic infection endpoints for HCV vaccine trials

Evaluation and Comparison of Serum Vitamin D Levels between Injection Drug Users with and without Chronic Hepatitis C Infection in Hamadan-Iran

Background and objective: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes disruption in the metabolism of biochemicals, such as vitamin D, and subsequently alters their serum level via the involvement of the liver. The current study aimed at determining the serum level of vitamin D in injection drug users with chronic HCV infection. Methods:The current case-control study was conducted on 46 injection drug users referred to Imam Khomeini Specialty Clinic in Hamadan City, Iran, between 2017 and 2019, when their HCV infection was diagnosed with HCV PCR test, and 46 healthy injection drug users as the control group in order to compare serum vitamin D levels and liver enzymes. Both the case and control groups were matched for age and gender. ELISA technique was used to measure serum vitamin D level. The collected data were analyzed with STATA software based on 95% significance level. Results:In the present study, 43 (93.5%) of all subjects were male and three (6.6%) females. The mean age of subjects in the case and control groups was 41.87 ± 11.97 and 40.66 ± 11.89 years, respectively. The mean serum vitamin D levels in the case and control groups were 21.20 ± 19.84 and 42.42 ± 29.08 ng/L, respectively (P = 0.001). The mean serum vitamin D levels in the injection drug users with mild, moderate, and severe HCV infection was 32.90, 30.34 and 29.74 ng/L, respectively (P = 0.454). The correlation between vitamin D level and AST and ALT enzymes was -0.053 and -0.103, respectively (P >0.05). Conclusion:Serum vitamin D level decreases in addicts with chronic HCV infection. With increasing the severity of HCV infection, the serum level of vitamin D decreases.

Immune response to fused core protein of hepatitis C virus and truncated tetanus toxin peptides in mice

Because no vaccine or effective therapy is available, thousands of people with HCV have died in recent years. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) play a critical role in the host cellular immune response against HCV. CTL epitopes in HCV core protein have been identified and used in vaccine development. T helper epitopes could promote cytokine secretion and antibody production to fight HCV. Tetanus toxin, an immunogen with many T helper epitopes, was once used in HBV therapeutic vaccine design. Here, eukaryotic and prokaryotic expression vectors were constructed to express truncated fragments of tetanus toxin and core genes of HCV. HLAA2.1 transgenic mice were inoculated with a recombinant plasmid vehicle with these two heterogenic gene fragments, and this augmented the titres of antibody against HCV. Antigen-specific lymphocyte proliferation, Th1 and Th2 cytokine levels and the number of lysed cells were markedly increased in the combined immunization group compared to controls. These findings provide new insights into a potential role for T helper epitopes from tetanus toxin combined with protein from the HCV core gene, which has numerous CTL epitopes. This design strategy may aid in the development of new vaccines against HCV.