Bacterial viruses for cheap vaccines
than naked DNA in eliciting an immune response and could be a new
strategy for a next generation of vaccines that are easy to produce
and store, say researchers this week from the Moredun Research
Institute in the UK.
Genetically altered bacterial viruses appear to be more effective than naked DNA in eliciting an immune response and could be a new strategy for a next generation of vaccines that are easy to produce and store, say researchers this week from the Moredun Research Institute in the UK.
"In theory, millions of doses can be grown within a matter of days using simple equipment, media and procedures," said John March, one of lead researchers presenting findings recently at the American Society for Microbiology's Biodefense Research meeting this week.
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria but not humans. In this particular study, March and his colleagues used a bacteriophage as a vehicle for genes from hepatitis B virus in mice and compared its ability to elicit a protective immune response with a vaccine made of naked DNA.
They found that not only could the bacteriophage induce an immune response, the number of bacteriophage they needed was less than 1 per cent of the number of pieces of naked DNA required to mount an effective immune response.
Using bacteriophages to deliver vaccine components offers several advantages over vaccination with naked DNA, added March. The DNA is protected inside the protein shell of the virus making it longer lasting and easier to store. In addition, bacteriophages have a large cloning capacity, making large-scale production cheap, easy and rapid.
