| Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major causative agent of posttransfusion hepatitis. More then 50% of acutely infected individuals progress to a chronic carrier state that frequently results in cirrhosis. In addition, HCV infection is an independent risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, there is no universal, highly effective therapy of chronic HCV infection. Only a minority of patients benefits from antiviral therapy using interferon. Other antiviral nucleoside analogue has been shown to be only marginally effective and may be associated with considerable side effects. Therefore, it is important to develop an effective HCV vaccine to prevent infection or to be used as an immunotheraoeutic to treat chronic HCV infection and thus stop the progression of chronic hepatitis.Recently, DNA immunization have been shown to be a promising approach to induce both specific humoral and cellular immune responses against a number of infections agents, including influenza virus, malaria, human immunodeficiency virus, and hepatitis B virus. This direct DNA-based gene therapeutic approach has shown great utility for generation a CTL response that not only protects against acute infection but also may have benefits in eradicating persistent viral infection.HCV is considered to belong to the family Flaviviridae. The virus has a positive-strand RNA of about 9500 nucleotides that includes a single open reading...
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