Patent ID: 8007816

Claim:
A therapeutic composition comprising: a) a heat-inactivated whole yeast; and b) an HCV NS3-Core-NS5b fusion protein comprising HCV sequences, wherein the HCV sequences consist of: i) an HCV NS3 protein comprising positions 1115 to 1376 of SEQ ID NO:20 or a corresponding sequence from another HCV strain, except that the NS3 protein may lack the catalytic domain or has been inactivated by a single point mutation; ii) an HCV Core protein comprising positions 2-140 of SEQ ID NO:20 or a corresponding sequence from another HCV strain; and iii) an HCV NS5b protein lacking the C-terminal 52 amino acids; wherein the HCV NS3-Core-NS5b fusion protein is expressed by the yeast, and wherein the composition elicits an HCV-specific cellular immune response.