Medical Background
An estimated 170 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C. The figure for Germany is roughly between 400,000 and 500,000. In some rural areas of Africa as much as one quarter of the population is infected with the virus. Left untreated, the illness leads in more than a third of all cases to a chronic inflammation of the liver, or, cirrhosis. In two to seven percent of patients the cirrhosis develops into liver cancer. The pathogen is transmitted primarily through the blood from contaminated needles. So far, no vaccination against this pathogen has been developed. In other words, there is an enormous medical need for an effective and easy-to-use vaccine against hepatitis C.
The Challenge
There are currently basic hurdles standing in the way of the development of a hepatitis C vaccine. Before any vaccine can be given to humans it first must be tested on animals. But in the case of hepatitis C this is not possible. Mice, the test animal of choice, are immune to the virus. The pathogen only reproduces in human liver cells, so mice cannot be vaccinated against hepatitis C. Their reaction to a vaccine cannot be tested. This unfortunate circumstance has led scientists to search for another way. Researchers are now working on methods to implant human liver cells and immune cells in mice. Once this method is developed it will be possible to study both the hepatitis infection as well as the reaction to potential vaccines.
Cooperation Partners
Institut Pasteur (Paris)
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
Hannover Medical School (MHH)
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (Inserm)
Academic Medical Center (AMC), University of Amsterdam
Rockefeller University, New York
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the "Grand Challenges" Program
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was set up by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda. The goal of the foundation is to combat health problems, like hepatitis C, in underdeveloped countries, which international pharmaceutical companies have ignored due to the poor prospects for profitability. The partners listed above presented their project to the foundation as part of the competition "Grand Challenges in Global Health".