Immunogenic properties of a chimeric plant virus expressing a hepatitis C virus (HCV)-derived epitope: New prospects for an HCV vaccine

ABSTRACT:A vaccine against Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is urgently needed due to the unsatisfactory clinical respone to current therapies. We evaluated the immunological properties of a chimeric Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), a plant virus engineered to express on its surface a synthetic peptide derived from many HVR1 sequences of the HCV envelope protein E2 (R9 mimotope).