Hepatitis E vaccine

At present, only acute cases of hepatitis E have been documented. There are no vaccines available to prevent hepatitis E however, a recombinant hepatitis E vaccine is undergoing Phase II/III study to determine its efficacy in preventing hepatitis E infections.49 Supportive care is the only treatment available for acute hepatitis E infection.19... 

DEAMIDATION AND ISOASPARTATE FORMATION DURING in Vitro AGING OF A RECOMBINANT HEPATITIS E VACCINE CANDIDATE... 

Deamidation and Isoaspartate Formation in Hepatitis E Vaccine III. Results and Discussion... 

Hepatitis E is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in young adults in developing countries, and is particularly dangerous in pregnant women. Through recombinant technology a hepatitis E vaccine has been developed in its first clinical trials the vaccine was found to be safe and immunogenic (10). 

At present, no commercially available vaccines exist for the prevention of hepatitis E. However, several studies for the development of an effective vaccine against hepatitis E are in progress. Preliminary but significant progress has been made towards the development of hepatitis E vaccine, using the trpE-C2 fusion protein (Purdy et al. 1993). In limited experiments, three doses of the fusion protein, which represents the carboxyl two-thirds of the putative capsid protein, prevented the development of biochemical evidence of hepatitis after challenge with wild-type virus (Purdy et al. 1993). 

Part of the characterization of a protein encountered in the attempted development of a vaccine to the hepatitis E virus involved the determination of its molecular weight [7]. 

Figure 5.6 Positive-ion electrospray spectrum obtained from the major component in the LC-MS analysis of a purified recombinant 62 kDa protein using a Cig microbore 50 X 1 mm column and a flow rate of 50 p.lmin . The starting buffer (buffer A ) was 0.1% TEA in water, while the gradient buffer (buffer B ) consisted of 0.1% TEA in acetonitrile-water (9 1 vol/vol). The running conditions consisted of 0% B for 5 min, followed by a linear gradient of 100% B for 55 min. Reprinted from J. Chromatogr., B, 685, McAtee, C. P., Zhang, Y., Yarbough, P. O., Fuerst, T. R., Stone, K. L., Samander, S. and Williams, K. R., Purification and characterization of a recombinant hepatitis E protein vaccine candidate by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry , 91-104, Copyright (1996), with permission from Elsevier Science.

Pre-exposure prophylaxis with IGIM is indicated for individuals at high risk of acquiring the HAV who cannot receive the hepatitis A vaccine (e.g., because of allergy to the components alum or 2-phenoxyethanol). Additionally, travelers who plan to depart for endemic areas within 2 weeks and have not yet received the hepatitis A vaccine should receive IGIM because active vaccine immunity takes several weeks to develop. 

The most common adverse effects in adults include injection site reactions (e.g., tenderness, pain, and warmth), headaches within 5 days after vaccination, and fatigue. Local reactions may be minimized by using an appropriate needle length based on the person s age and size and by administering the injection intramuscularly in the deltoid muscle. Children may also have feeding disturbances. Hepatitis A vaccine given... 

Niu, M.T., Saline, M.E. and Ellenberg, S.S. (1999). Neonatal deaths after hepatitis B vaccine The vaccine adverse event reporting system, 1991-1998. Arch. Pediatr. Adolesc. Med. 153 1279-1282. 

Williams, J., Fox-Ley va, L., Christensen, C., Fisher, D., Schlicting, E., Snowball, M. etal. (2000) Hepatitis A vaccine administration comparison between jet-injector and needle injection. Vaccine, 18,1939-1943. 

Young, B.W.Y., Lee, S.S., Lim, W.L., Yeoh, E.K. The long-term efficacy of plasma-derived hepatitis B vaccine in babies born to carrier mothers. J. Viral Hepat. 2003 10 23-30... 

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