Experimental Oral Anthrax Vaccine Shows Promise
Researchers said on Monday that an oral vaccine packed into bacteria found in dairy products like milk and cheese protected mice from the anthrax bacteria, Reuters reported.
The approach could possibly be used to deliver any number of specific vaccines that could block other types of viruses and pathogens.
Todd Klaenhammer, a researcher at North Carolina State University who co-led the study, said vaccines are normally administered by needle because, when eaten, the digestive process in the stomach destroys them.
"Using ‘food grade’ lactic acid bacteria as a vehicle provides a safe way of getting the vaccine into the small intestine without losing any of the drug’s efficacy," he said.
The Anthrax bacteria causes an easily treated skin lesion, but if the spores are inhaled, it can take hold quickly and by the time a person starts showing symptoms, it is usually too late for successful treatment with antibiotics.
Human Genome Sciences Inc. said earlier this month it would provide an initial 20,000 doses of ABthrax, which fights anthrax infection, to the U.S. government. U.S. based Emergent BioSolutions also produces a vaccine.
The researchers said that since most vaccines are proteins, they lose effect when passing through the stomach, sometimes requiring numerous injections to work.
However, they discovered that once the vaccine was through the stomach and in the small intestine, it was able to bind to immune cells where it triggered a response ““ in this case, protection against anthrax in mice.
The study found that the oral vaccine worked about as well as a vaccine delivered by needle.
They now hope to find our whether the "good bacteria" can deliver other oral vaccines to provide immunity against a range of viruses and pathogens.
"Can we make these generally recognized as safe lactic acid bacteria into a premier delivery system for vaccines and biotherapeutics? That’s the question we’re now trying to answer," Klaenhammer says.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and included scientists from the U.S. Army Medical Research of Infectious Diseases.
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Image Caption: A photomicrograph of Bacillus anthracis bacteria using Gram-stain technique. Anthrax is diagnosed by isolating B. anthracis from the blood, skin lesions, or respiratory secretions, or by measuring specific antibodies in the blood of persons with suspected cases. (CDC)
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