HCV Vaccine
Promising early trial the immune cells has an enormous impact on the liver tissue. Blood flow within the liver is hugely disrupted, with large numbers of liver cells—even those not infected—dying as a result. This immune response has a much more dramatic effect than the attack on liver cells that are actually infected,” Wohlleber explained.
Perforin inhibitors as a therapeutic tool
(at 0 and 8 weeks), followed by a booster dose at 6 months.
When complete, the GLS6150 study will evaluate a total of 24 people who have a sustained virologic response (SVR) following treatment for Hepatitis C, as well as an additional 8 healthy controls to compare immune responses. The test vaccinations are given as either a 3-dose priming series (at 0, 4 and 12 weeks) or as a 2-dose priming series
The key to a successful hepatitis C vaccine will be its ability to activate the body’s immune system to prevent or treat infection by a challenging virus with multiple and mutating strains. Efforts to develop a hepatitis C vaccine started more than 25 years ago when the hepatitis C virus was first identified, but progress has been slow because the hepatitis C virus is more variable than are the viruses that cause hepatitis A and B. The hepatitis C virus occurs in at least six genetically distinct forms (genotypes) with multiple strains--about 50 subtypes have been identified to date. The experimental GLS-6150 vaccine is not limited to one specific strain of virus, so it’s hoped that the results of the trial, late in 2019, will demonstrate its efficacy against hepatitis C in general. See bit.ly/2TRSKqh for more. v
partnership between two pharmaceutical companies (Inovio Pharmaceuticals and GeneOne Life Science) have dosed the first patient in an early study designed to evaluate a preventive vaccine against hepatitis C infection. Further patients have been recruited in South Korea for the study, which is trialling the experimental GLS-6150 vaccine to boost immunity in people who have been treated and cleared of the virus. If the trial is successful, this vaccine could be employed to prevent infection and reinfection.
Read the research article at go.nature.com/2LXLTsE. v
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Image CC Sandra Rugio
“Only now that we have pinpointed the actual destructive mechanism in acute hepatitis can we consider new treatment strategies and specifically target this process,” Knolle explained. The researchers were able to show that a new active substance can prevent fulminant hepatitis. This is a perforin inhibitor, which stops the killer T-cells from forming pores and thus safeguards the LSECs from attack. This agent successfully protected experimental mice from developing fulminant hepatitis, since the LSECs remained intact, preserving the blood supply to the liver cells. Tests on human patients are now planned.
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