Antibodies to an interfering epitope in hepatitis C virus E2 can mask vaccine-induced neutralizing activity

These data show that antibodies to the region 434-446 are induced during immunization of individuals with recombinant E1E2 proteins, and that these antibodies can mask effective neutralizing activity from EP-I-specific antibodies. Elicitation of EP-II-specific antibodies with interfering capacity should be avoided in producing an effective cross-neutralizing vaccine aimed at the HCV envelope proteins.

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00500747.