Hepatitis C: Immunity and the Immune Response

Between May 22 and 24, 1992 a syposium entitled “The Role of the Chimpanzee in Research” was held in Vienna, Austria. One of the highlights of this symposium was a presentation by Dr. Harvey Alter, National Institute of Health (NIH), on the use of the chimpanzee as a biomedical model for hepatitis C virus (HCV) pathogenesis, studies of the possible dependence of disease outcome on the particular isolate (read: genotype) of HCV used to infect the chimpanzee, and demonstration that both homologous and heterologous isolates (genotypes) of HCV can reinfect the same chimpanzee. Dr. Alter concluded that infection with HCV does not elicit a protective immune response and that development of a vaccine would be problematic.