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Toward a cocaine vaccine to help addicts kick the habit

Date:
January 21, 2015
Source:
American Chemical Society
Summary:
In their decades-long search for vaccines against drugs of abuse, scientists have hit upon a new approach to annul cocaine's addictive buzz. They report that their strategy, which they tested on mice, harnesses a bacterial protein to trigger an immune system attack on the drug if it enters the body. This response could dull cocaine's psychotropic effects and potentially help users of the drug kick the habit.
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In their decades-long search for vaccines against drugs of abuse, scientists have hit upon a new approach to annul cocaine's addictive buzz. They report in the ACS journal Molecular Pharmaceutics that their strategy, which they tested on mice, harnesses a bacterial protein to trigger an immune system attack on the drug if it enters the body. This response could dull cocaine's psychotropic effects and potentially help users of the drug kick the habit.

Kim D. Janda and colleagues note that according to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an estimated 1.4 million people in the U.S. took cocaine. A number of therapies are available to help drug abusers quit. But addiction is extremely tough to beat. So some scientists are working on vaccines to neutralize the high-inducing effects of recreational drugs. Although vaccines are normally associated with fighting bacterial or viral infections, they can also be designed to recruit the body's immune system to recognize non-microbial substances such as drugs. None so far are widely effective, so Janda's team set out to try a new approach.

The researchers took a safe bacterial protein called flagellin that has already been incorporated in other vaccines and modified it to boost the immune response to cocaine. They tested the compound in mice and found that it worked better than a vaccine candidate they'd developed previously. The strategy, the researchers conclude, opens up a new avenue for designing vaccines against drugs of abuse.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.


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Materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Jonathan W. Lockner, Lisa M. Eubanks, Jennifer L. Choi, Jenny M. Lively, Joel E. Schlosburg, Karen C. Collins, Daniel Globisch, Robin J. Rosenfeld-Gunn, Ian A. Wilson, Kim D. Janda. Flagellin as Carrier and Adjuvant in Cocaine Vaccine Development. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2015; 150107114319000 DOI: 10.1021/mp500520r

Cite This Page:

American Chemical Society. "Toward a cocaine vaccine to help addicts kick the habit." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 January 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150121103240.htm>.
American Chemical Society. (2015, January 21). Toward a cocaine vaccine to help addicts kick the habit. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150121103240.htm
American Chemical Society. "Toward a cocaine vaccine to help addicts kick the habit." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150121103240.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

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