Hepatitis C vaccines: How close are we to the promised land?

A vaccination strategy for the prevention of hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains an important goal for the global elimination of HCV. An HCV vaccine would have major benefits for people at risk of HCV infection and would be a major contributor, possibly essential for population strategies that aim to eliminate infection. Current vaccine efforts primarily utilize either the antibody response to structural HCV proteins or a T-cell response targeting the HCV genome more widely. T-cell vaccines aim to abort acute infection and prevent the development of chronic disease. While the exact immune correlates of protection against HCV are not fully understood, both B-cell and T-cell immunity are associated with spontaneous resolution of HCV infection. Therefore, a combination of approaches in an HCV vaccine strategy to harness T-cell and B-cell responses may provide the best chance of successfully clearing an acute HCV infection.