Is a Hepatitis C vaccine in the near future?

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease that affects the liver. It is caused by the Hepatitis C virus, which is spread through sharing needles or other blood-to-blood contact. In rare cases it is also spread by sexual contact. Once established the disease causes flu-like symptoms, inflammation of the liver and can also go on to cause scarring of the liver, cirrhosis of the liver and in extreme cases, liver failure or liver cancer. It is estimated that nearly 200 million people are infected with hepatitis C worldwide.

Although there is no vaccine against the virus, the disease can sometimes be managed through anti-viral medications if diagnosed soon enough. Right now the only hepatitis C treatment is a drug combination treatment called Peg-interferon alpha, though it caused severe flu-like symptoms and only has a 50 percent response rate. For those who have already progressed to cirrhosis of the liver, Peg-interferon alpha only has a 20 percent response rate.

The biggest problem with creating a vaccine and understanding the virus has been an inability to use normal human liver cells for testing. There is no animal model to use for the testing and study of Hepatitis C. Hopefully, this problem may be solved since scientists have finally developed a tissue culture of human liver cells.


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