Pantazica Ana-Maria Madalina, Cucos Lia-Maria, Stavaru Crina, Clarke Jihong-Liu, Branza-Nichita Norica
Department of Viral Glycoproteins, Institute of Biochemistry of the Romanian Academy, 011254 Bucharest, Romania.
Laboratory of Immunology, "Cantacuzino" Medico-Military National Research Institute, 011254 Bucharest, Romania.
Plants (Basel). 2021 Sep 28;10(10):2037. doi: 10.3390/plants10102037.
Hepatitis B and C viruses chronically affect approximately 3.5% of the global population, causing more than 800,000 deaths yearly due to severe liver pathogenesis. Current HBV vaccines have significantly contributed to the reduction of chronic HBV infections, supporting the notion that virus eradication is a feasible public health objective in the near future. In contrast to HBV, a prophylactic vaccine against HCV infection is not available yet; however, intense research efforts within the last decade have significantly advanced the field and several vaccine candidates are shortlisted for clinical trials. A successful vaccine against an infectious disease of global importance must not only be efficient and safe, but also easy to produce, distribute, administer, and economically affordable to ensure appropriate coverage. Some of these requirements could be fulfilled by oral vaccines that could complement traditional immunization strategies. In this review, we discuss the potential of edible plant-based oral vaccines in assisting the worldwide fight against hepatitis B and C infections. We highlight the latest research efforts to reveal the potential of oral vaccines, discuss novel antigen designs and delivery strategies, as well as the limitations and controversies of oral administration that remain to be addressed to make this approach successful.
乙肝病毒和丙肝病毒长期影响着全球约3.5%的人口,每年因严重肝脏病变导致超过80万人死亡。目前的乙肝疫苗对减少慢性乙肝感染做出了重大贡献,这支持了在不久的将来根除病毒是一个可行的公共卫生目标的观点。与乙肝不同,目前尚无预防丙肝感染的疫苗;然而,过去十年的大量研究工作使该领域取得了显著进展,几种候选疫苗已入围临床试验。一种成功的针对具有全球重要性的传染病的疫苗不仅必须有效且安全,还必须易于生产、分发、接种,并且在经济上可承受,以确保适当的覆盖率。口服疫苗可以满足其中一些要求,从而补充传统的免疫策略。在这篇综述中,我们讨论了基于可食用植物的口服疫苗在协助全球抗击乙肝和丙肝感染方面的潜力。我们重点介绍了揭示口服疫苗潜力的最新研究工作,讨论了新型抗原设计和递送策略,以及口服给药的局限性和争议,这些问题仍有待解决以使这种方法取得成功。