Anti-cocaine vaccine makes mice resistant to drug's effects

Washington, June 19 (ANI): A single-dose vaccine capable of providing immunity against the effects of cocaine offers a novel and groundbreaking strategy for treating the drug addiction, according to a new study.

A team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College (New York, NY), The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA), and Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) used a virus-based delivery vehicle in mice to transfer a gene that produces a protein capable of binding to cocaine present in the blood, preventing the cocaine from crossing into the brain.

The protein is a monoclonal antibody that sequesters cocaine, making the vaccinated mice resistant to the drug's effects.

Whereas unvaccinated mice exhibited hyperactivity when exposed to intravenous cocaine, the immunized mice showed no effects, according to researchers Jonathan Rosenberg, et al.

The study is described in an article published Instant Online in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

"This is a very novel approach for addressing the huge medical problem of cocaine addiction," said James M. Wilson, MD, PhD, Editor-in-Chief, and Director of the Gene Therapy Program, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia. (ANI)