Patent ID: 7220420

Claim:
An isolated molecule comprising a polypeptide that induces an hepatitis C virus (HCV)-specific response in cytotoxic T lymphocytes having a sequence that (a) has no more than a total of two single amino acid substitutions, deletions or insertions at the corresponding amino acid positions in a CTL epitope which is LLALLSCLTV (Core 178-187 ; SEQ ID NO:2), QLRRHIDLLV (E1 257-266 ; SEQ ID NO:3), KLVALGINAV (NS3 1406-1415 ; SEQ ID NO:28), or LLFNILGGWV (NS4 1807-1816 ; SEQ ID NO:35), or (b) has no more than one single amino acid substitution, deletion or insertion at the corresponding amino acid positions as in a CTL epitope which is ADLMGYIPLV (Core 131-140 ; SEQ ID NO:1), LLCPAGHAV (NS3 1169-1177 ; SEQ ID NO:26), or SLMAFTAAV (NS4 1789-1797 ; SEQ ID NO:34), wherein said molecule comprises at least eight amino acids and less than 50 amino acids, with the provisos that (i) when said selected CTL epitope is SLMAFTAAV (N4 1789-1797 ; SEQ ID NO:34), then said molecule comprises from at least eight amino acids to less than 25 amino acids, or (ii) when said selected CTL epitope is LLALLSCLTV (Core 178-187 ; SEQ ID NO:2) then said molecule comprises at most ten amino acids.