Mixing particles from various HCV genotypes increases the HBV‐HCV vaccine ability to elicit broadly cross‐neutralizing antibodies

The development of a safe, effective and affordable prophylactic vaccine against hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains a medical priority. Hepatitis B‐C subviral envelope particles, which could be produced by industrial procedures adapted from those established for the hepatitis B virus vaccine, appear promising for use for this purpose. The prototype HBV‐HCV bivalent vaccine‐bearing genotype 1a HCV envelopes can induce neutralizing antibodies against this genotype, but is less effective against other genotypes. We show here, in a small animal model, that the use of a set of vaccine particles harbouring envelopes from different HCV genotypes in various association strategies can induce broad neutralizing protection or an optimized protection against a particular genotype prevalent in a given region, such as genotype 4 in Egypt. This vaccine could help to control the hepatitis C epidemic worldwide.