Identification of novel neutralizing determinants for protection against HCV.

"in contrast to the hcv nonstructural proteins (p7 ns2 ns3 ns4a ns4b ns5a and ns5b) core and the envelope glycoproteins e1 and e2 act as structural proteins incorporated in the virion e1 [amino acid (aa) 192-383] and e2 (aa 384-746) mediate viral entry via a receptor complex including cluster of differentiation 81 (cd81) and scavenger receptor class b type 1 (sr-bi) and are the main target of nab (unless otherwise indicated aa positions refer to the h77 reference polyprotein; genbank accession number af009606) e2 core structures revealed a central beta-sandwich flanked by a front layer (aa 424-459) and a back layer (aa 597-645) recently solved e2 ectodomain structures included conformationally more flexible regions such as hypervariable region 1 (hvr1 aa 384-410) antigenic site 412 (as412 or epitope i aa 412-423) and the cd81 binding loop (aa 519-535) (figure s1) the cd81 binding site comprises as412 the front layer the cd81 binding loop and parts of the back layer - nab induced by vaccination or natural infection are important immune correlates of protection against viral infections."

"CONFLICT OF INTEREST The authors declare that they have no competing interests."

"FUNDING INFORMATION Supported by PhD stipends and bonuses from the Candys Foundation and from the University of Copenhagen, grants from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, The Danish Cancer Society, Independent Research Fund Denmark–Medical Sciences, Innovation Fund Denmark, The Lundbeck Foundation, The Region H Foundation, The Toyota Foundation, the The Læge Sofus Carl Emil Friis og Hustru Olga Doris Friis’ Foundation, and National Institutes of Health (AI168251 and AI144232). Funding information Candys Foundation; The Danish Cancer Society; Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond; Innovationsfonden; Lundbeckfonden; NIH, Grant/Award Number: AI168251 and AI144232; Novo Nordisk Fonden; The Læge Sofus Carl Emil Friis og Hustru Olga Doris Friis’ Foundation; The Region H Foundation; Toyota Foundation"