BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is known for the eminent global disease burden responsible for encumbering public health. Development of an effective vaccine is the major need of the day; however, several obstacles loom ahead of this objective. One of the major barriers is that as a RNA virus, it mutates rapidly resulting in high sequence divergence and several viral isolates in the world. T...

Clearance of the hepatitis B virus (HBV), a noncytopathic double-stranded DNA virus, requires the coordinated response of innate and adaptive, humoral and cellular immune systems. In more than 90% of immunocompetent adults who become infected, this immune response is quite vigorous, resulting in acute, self-limited hepatitis with rapid reduction of viral load and long-lasting, protective humora...

In this cross sectional anonymous study, blood samples of 285 dentists and Physicians were tested for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBs Ag), hepatitis B envelope Ag (HBe Ag), antibodies to: hepatitis B suface (anti-HBs), hepatitis B core Ag (anti-HBc) and hepatitis B envelope Ag (anti-HBe) by ELISA-3 and antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) by ELISA-3 and immunoblotting tests. The results su...

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B is an important public health concern in South Africa (SA). The hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine was introduced into the South African Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI-SA) in 1995. There is no 'catch-up' programme in place. The duration of protection after hepatitis B vaccination in the SA population is unknown. Waning of vaccine-induced immunity leaves people at ri...

Hepatocytes are the primary targets of the hepatitis C virus (HCV). While immunosuppressive roles of HCV core protein have been found in several studies, it remains uncertain whether core protein expressed in hepatocytes rather than in immune cells affects the CD8+ T cell response. In order to transduce genes selectively into hepatocytes, we developed a baculoviral vector system that enabled pr...

The present study was designed to determine if highly conserved hepatitis B virus (HBV)-derived peptides that bind multiple HLA class I alleles with high affinity are recognized as cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes in acutely infected patients. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 67 patients with acute hepatitis B, and 12 patients convalescent from acute hepatitis B, were stimulated wit...

A nonvirulent Salmonella dublin flagellin-negative, aromatic-dependent live vaccine strain has been used to express hepatitis B virus surface antigen epitopes in an immunogenic form. The envelope proteins of the virion are encoded by the S gene, which contains the pre-S1, pre-S2, and S coding regions. Synthetic oligonucleotides corresponding to amino acid residues S-(122-137) and pre-S2-(120-14...

The treatment goal for chronic hepatitis B is true eradication of the hepatitis B virus, but this is rarely achieved with first-line treatment regimens because of an inability to disrupt covalently closed circular DNA and an inadequate host immune response. Therefore, new antiviral agents are needed to target various stages of the hepatitis B virus lifecycle and modulation of the immune system....

background human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) infected patients are also frequently exposed to the hepatitis b virus (hbv), due to the common routes of transmission, therefore, prevention of hepatitis b results in decreased complications of the disease. objectives since the immune response of hiv patients to hepatitis b vaccination is less robust than that found in healthy individuals, this stu...