Hep C Vaccine - From Medical News Today

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'Signifcant Step' Towards Hep C Vaccine To Be Announced By

University Of Alberta Researcher

16 Feb 2012

A University of Alberta researcher and Canada Excellence Research

Chair in Virology has made the discovery of a vaccine that will

potentially help combat hepatitis C. Houghton, who led the

team that discovered the hepatitis C virus in 1989, announced his

findings at the Canada Excellence Research Chairs Summit in

Vancouver this afternoon. Currently, there are no vaccines against

the disease available.

Houghton, also the Li Ka Shing Chair in Virology at the University

of Alberta, says the vaccine, developed from a single strain, has

shown to be effective against all known strains of the virus. It

took more than 10 years to develop and started while he was working

for the drug company Novartis. Following previous vaccine tests

funded by the National Institutes of Health that yielded promising

results, he said there remained two critical questions.

"Did the recipients actually produce antibodies that could

neutralize the actual infectious virus," he said, "and if they

could, how broad was the neutralizing response?"

The challenge, Houghton said, was that hepatitis C is more virulent

than HIV, thus coming up with a vaccine that would neutralize the

different strains around the world was believed to be impossible.

Using a vaccine developed and tested on humans in his University of

Alberta lab, Houghton and his co-investigator Law discovered

that the vaccine was capable of eliciting broad cross-neutralising

antibodies against all the different major strains. Houghton says

that this finding bodes good news for those with hep C and those who

live or travel to areas where the disease is prevalent.

"This tells us that a vaccine made from a single strain can indeed

neutralize all the viruses out there," says Houghton. "It really

encourages the further development of that vaccine. This is a really

a big step forward for the field of HCV vaccinology."

With hundreds of thousands of people being infected with hepatitis C

annually, and with between 20 to 30 per cent of those developing

some form liver disease, this announcement brings hope. However,

Houghton cautions that further testing is required, meaning that it

may be five to seven years before the vaccine receives approval. And

while it may make some difference in those currently suffering from

hepatitis C, it is mainly a preventative measure against acquiring

the disease.

The discovery of the vaccine by a University of Alberta researcher,

and one of the first appointed Canada Excellence Research Chairs is

proud news for both organizations.

"A breakthrough such as this one is exactly the kind of advance we

believed would happen here when we created the Li Ka Shing Institute

of Virology and recruited internationally renowned researchers such

as Houghton and his colleagues," said U of A President

Indira Samarasekera.

Chad Gaffield, chair of the steering committee for Canada Excellence

Research Chairs program said one of the ambitions of the program was

to attract world-class talent to Canada, those whose research would

be foremost in making the breakthroughs needed in the 21st century.

While it may not be obvious when or where such breakthroughs will

occur first, Houghton`s discovery illustrates the impact of this

program on a national and international scale.

"The premise of the CERC program is that if you support top minds

internationally, good things will happen," he says. "This is a

wonderful illustration of how a key problem in the world today

becomes much more understandable and solutions are much closer

thanks to the work of Houghton."

The breakthrough underscores the benefit of the U of A's Li Ka Shing

Institute of Virology.

"This demonstrates that the Li Ka Shing Institute is internationally

competitive in important areas of virology research," said Lorne

Tyrrell, director of the institute and a leading virologist in his

own right. "We are working on topics that are important to patients,

and we want to translate discoveries from the lab to patient care.

That has been our philosophy since day one. We have a long way to

go, but this is a great step."

References:

University of

Alberta

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MLA

University of Alberta. "'Signifcant

Step' Towards Hep C Vaccine To Be Announced By University Of

Alberta Researcher." Medical News Today.

MediLexicon, Intl., 16 Feb. 2012. Web.

20 Feb. 2012.

<http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241774.php>

APA

University of Alberta. (2012,

February 16). "'Signifcant Step' Towards Hep C Vaccine To Be

Announced By University Of Alberta Researcher." Medical

News Today. Retrieved from

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/241774.php.

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