Scientists working on vaccine to end cocaine addiction
23 Jan 2015
Researchers from The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, have created a vaccine that used the immune system to balance out the high caused by cocaine.
The vaccine relied on flagellin, a bacterial protein, to kick-start the immune system into action against the drug if it sensed its presence. Earlier attempts at anti-cocaine vaccines did not incorporate flagellin and had not met with much success.
The vaccine had been successfully tested on mice. An estimated 1.4 million people in the US had taken cocaine in 2011.
The ACS journal Molecular Pharmaceutics has published the findings.
According to the researchers, they used the new approach which harnesses a bacterial protein to trigger an immune system attack on cocaine if it entered the body reported.
Researchers added that the response could dull the psychotropic effects of cocaine.
They add although vaccines were normally associated with fighting bacterial or viral infections, they could also be designed to recruit the body's immune system to recognise non-microbial substances such as drugs.
Kim D Janda, professor at The Scripps Research Institute in the US said the response could dull cocaine's phychotropic effects and potentially help users quit.
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