Toward the development of a hepatitis E vaccine

Area of Science:

• Virology
• Vaccinology
• Public Health

Background:

• Hepatitis E virus (HEV) causes widespread acute hepatitis epidemics.
• HEV infection has a high mortality rate in pregnant women and significant public health costs.
• There is a critical need for an approved Hepatitis E vaccine.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the development and evaluation of experimental Hepatitis E vaccines.
• To highlight the efficacy of recombinant HEV vaccines in preclinical and clinical trials.
• To address the current lack of an approved commercial vaccine for Hepatitis E.

Main Methods:

• Development of experimental vaccines using recombinant proteins from the HEV capsid gene.
• Pre-clinical trials in macaques demonstrated vaccine efficacy and cross-protection.
• Phase II/III clinical trials evaluated two vaccine candidates (rHEV and HEV 239).

Main Results:

• Experimental HEV vaccines based on recombinant capsid proteins showed efficacy in pre-clinical trials.
• These vaccines conferred cross-protection against multiple HEV genotypes in animal models.
• Two vaccine candidates, rHEV and HEV 239, were successfully evaluated in Phase II/III human trials.

Conclusions:

• Recombinant HEV vaccines are promising candidates for preventing Hepatitis E.
• Despite successful trials, no Hepatitis E vaccine is currently commercially available.
• Further development and approval are needed to combat HEV infections globally.