HCV Fusion

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a significant global health concern, affecting over 180 million people worldwide . It is a major cause of liver diseases, including chronic liver inflammation, cirrhosis, liver failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma . Despite advancements in drug therapy, challenges such as high costs and side effects persist .

HCV is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus that encodes a single polyprotein. This polyprotein is processed into at least 11 polypeptides/proteins, including three structural proteins (core, and envelope proteins E1 and E2), a small polypeptide named p7, the novel F protein, and six nonstructural (NS) proteins (NS2, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, NS5A, and NS5B) .

Recombinant HCV variants have been detected in patients, although they are rare . Recombination of HCV has been demonstrated in vitro between non-functional genomes, but its frequency and relevance for viral evolution and life cycle remain unclear . The recombinant HCV 2k/1b strain, initially identified in St. Petersburg, Russia, has spread widely across Eurasia .

The development of an efficient vaccine against HCV is crucial due to the lack of an approved vaccine for controlling or treating HCV infection . Fusion protein vaccines, which contain immunogen proteins and adjuvant molecules, can stimulate both humoral and cellular responses essential for eradicating HCV infection . In silico design of fusion forms of vaccine candidates, such as flagellin (fliC) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and NS5B antigen (NT300) from HCV, has shown promising results .