Crystallized Fab/peptide complex could help scientists design a potential hepatitis C vaccine

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Developing an effective vaccine for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a difficult task, as high genetic variability and adaptive mutations allow HCV to escape neutralizing antibodies. Recently, a research team identified a group of monoclonal antibodies that bind to a region of HCV that is important for its interaction with CD81, its corresponding receptor. Because receptor binding is critical for HCV’s sustainability, this region must remain unchanged and is therefore susceptible to neutralizing antibodies.

Expanding on this, the scientists resolved the crystallized structures of two of the antibodies’ Fab region bound to a peptide representative of the corresponding binding region of HCV (1). Analyzing these crystallized structures could help lead to the design of a potential vaccine against HCV that promotes an effective neutralizing antibody response.