New DNA-Based Vaccine Approach Protects Mice.(Brief Article)

2001 NOV 7 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Ohio State University have shown that mice injected with fragments of DNA from anthrax bacteria can be immunized against the disease.

In traditional vaccine approaches, researchers have used live, weakened or dead pathogens - or proteins produced by the organisms - to produce an immune response.

"The current work is a strong argument for the feasibility of using a DNA-based immunization strategy against anthrax."

This new approach represents a new - and perhaps, safer - way to produce vaccines against highly contagious diseases. This latest study, published in the journal Infection and Immunity, improves on earlier work that suggested that DNA-based vaccines might be effective. By using combinations of two gene products produced by the bacteria responsible for causing anthrax - Bacillus anthracis - the researchers were able to successfully immunize mice against the disease.

The work was headed by Darrell Galloway, associate professor of microbiology at Ohio State University, and colleagues at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the Biological Defense Research Directorate program at the Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Anthrax is a lethal disease if not detected shortly after exposure to bacterial spores. Antibiotics are effective in halting it if given soon after exposure before any symptoms develop. It is one of the leading potential agents discussed for use in biological terrorist attacks. Once anthrax spores are inhaled, they are pulled deep into the lungs where they usually are consumed by macrophages - white cells that scavenge the body for pathogens and other components that may lead to disease.

"Unfortunately," Galloway says, "the macrophages seem to be uniquely sensitive to this bacteria and are essentially targeted."