الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
HCV is prevalent worldwide, with nearly 180 million individuals infected and 3-4 million new infections per year. Egypt has The highest seroprevalence of HCV. Persistent infections caused by HCV occur in 70-80% of the acutely infected population, the majority of which will develop chronic hepatitis and will be at risk for cirrhosis, end-stage liver disease and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. So, there have been a variety of efforts to develop an HCV vaccine. Current therapies with pegylated IFN-α and ribavirin clear HCV infection in approximately 50% of cases, but treatment remains very expensive, requires 6-12 months of therapy, and carries a significant risk of serious side effects together with a long list of contraindications including decompensated liver cirrhosis and psychiatric disorders. In contrast to HBV, there is no HCV vaccine yet available, either for prophylactic or therapeutic use because HCV is genetically and serologically very heterogeneous, and their antigens are highly mutable. Several promising approaches have been pursued to develop an HCV vaccine. Many of which are in phase I clinical trial, some are already prepared for phase II clinical trial. Novel vaccine candidates based on molecular technology such as recombinant proteins (E1 and/or E2 glycoprotein), poly peptides, virus-like particles, plasmid DNA and recombinant viral vectors including adenovirus, modified vaccinia Ankara, canary pox virus, and alphavirus are being explored. GI5005 -a recombinant subunit vaccine- has entered phase II and is going to phase III clinical trial, so within several years we would have an HCV vaccine.