[Development of the novel oral vaccine against hepatitis C virus utilizing bifidobacteria]

Approximately 3% of the world people have chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), and about 30% of those will develop progressive liver disease, such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The current standard treatment for HCV of a combination of pegylated interferon-α with ribavirin and the development of new direct-acting antiviral agents, have dramatically improved the virus eradication rate. However those treatments have some toxicities and too expensive to be applied in developing countries, where have high HCV infection rates. Therefore there is a still great need to develop the novel vaccines, which can protect or treat HCV infection with the high efficacies and low adverse effects and costs. Currently we are developing the novel oral vaccine against HCV utilizing bifidobacteria.