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The prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Asia and sub-Sahara Africa is alarming. With quarter of a billion people chronically infected worldwide and at risk of developing liver cancer, the need for a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccination approach that can effectively induce protective responses against the different genotypes of HBV is more important than ever. Such a strategy will require both the induction of a strong antigen-specific immune response and the subsequent deployment of immune response towards the liver. Here, we assessed the ability of a synthetic DNA vaccine encoding a recombinant consensus plasmid from genotype A through E of the HBV core antigen (HBcAg), to drive immunity in the liver. Intramuscular vaccination induced both strong antigen-specific T cell and high titer antibody responses systematically and in the liver. Furthermore, immunized mice showed strong cytotoxic responses that eliminate adoptively transferred HBV-coated target cells. Importantly, vaccine-induced immune responses provided protection from HBcAg plasmid-based liver transfection in a hydrodynamic liver transfection model. These data provide important insight into the generation of peripheral immune responses that are recruited to the liver-an approach that can be beneficial in the search for vaccines or immune-therapies to liver disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]