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Updated: May 19, 2026
Induction of Drug-Induced, Autoimmune Hepatitis in BALB/c Mice for the Study of Its Pathogenic Mechanisms
Published on: May 29, 2020
The evaluation of hepatitis C virus core antigen in immunized BALB/c mice
Elham Torbati1, Mojgan Bandehpour, Parviz Pakzad
1Microbiology Department, Islamic Azad University, North Tehran Branch, Tehran, IR Iran.
Background:
Hepatitis infection represents one of the important causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries, however there is not any effective vaccine against hepatitis C which is one of the significant problems in vaccine project.
Objectives:
The aim of the present study is to evaluate the role of HCV core protein in inducing IFN-Gamma secretion and TCL activities as a vaccine in Balb/C mice.
Material And Methods:
Our previous cloned plasmid (HCV Core gene into pETDuet-1) applied for protein expression in bacteria. The expressed and purified recombinant protein together with Freund's adjuvant was injected to 15 Balb/c mice. The total IgG and IgG2a of immunized mice sera were evaluated after a week. Two weeks after booster injection, we studied the proliferation and IFNγ secretion of spleens, inguinal and popliteal lymph nodes lymphocytes by ELISA and ELISPOT.
Results:
The FSFC (Frequency of spot forming cells) of secreting cells of immunized mice with HCV/Core protein and sera IgG2a were considerably higher than the control groups.
Conclusions:
The core protein together with proper adjuvant can be a candidate vaccine against of HCV infection.
