Conference Dates

June 12 – 17, 2022

Abstract

Hepatitis B is a life-threatening liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV). Even today, HBV infection constitutes a global health problem, affecting more than 250 million people, and vaccination represents the most cost-effective strategy to control HBV spreading. The main antigen of the HBV its the surface antigen (HBsAg), that consists of three co-carboxyterminal envelope glycoproteins, called Large (L), Middle (M), and Small (S). Current available HBV vaccines are based on the non-glycosylated form of the S protein, expressed in yeast cells. Although efficacious and safe, about 10% of people vaccinated with this vaccine fail to mount an adequate antibody response1. One approach to improve HBV vaccination response is increasing immunogenicity via the inclusion of glycosylated S, M and L proteins in hepatitis B virus-like particles (HB-VLPs) expressed in mammalian cells. This new generation vaccine has proven to be able to elicited higher antibody titers breaking the lack of response to the current vaccine. On this regard, domains present in L and M proteins have shown to be more immunostimulatory than the S protein2. Also, the L protein contains the hepatocyte receptor-binding site and is able to induce the production of infection-neutralizing antibodies3.

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