Experimental Vaccine Seems to Stop Nicotine Addiction in Mice

WEDNESDAY, June 27 (HealthDay News) — A vaccine could someday
help smokers kick the habit once and for all, according to a study that
found the shot successfully treated nicotine addiction in mice in just one
dose.

Although the findings hold promise, experts note that research
involving animals frequently fails to lead to benefits for humans. In
addition, the vaccine must be tested in rats and then primates before it
can be tested in humans.

The researchers who developed the vaccine, however, say it could be the
strategy that finally helps millions of smokers quit.

“While we have only tested mice to date, we are very hopeful that this
kind of vaccine strategy can finally help the millions of smokers who have
tried to stop, exhausting all the methods on the market today but finding
their nicotine addiction to be strong enough to overcome these current
approaches,” the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman
and professor of genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New
York City, said in a news release.

“Smoking affects a huge number of people worldwide, and there are many
people who would like to quit but need effective help,” he added. “This
novel vaccine may offer a much-needed solution.”

The vaccine works by preventing nicotine from reaching the brain and
heart. It uses the liver to continuously produce antibodies, which eat up
the nicotine before it enters the bloodstream, depriving smokers of their
“fix.”

“As far as we can see, the best way to treat chronic nicotine addiction
from smoking is to have these Pac-Man-like antibodies on patrol, clearing
the blood as needed before nicotine can have any biological effect,”
Crystal said. “[People] will know if they start smoking again, they will
receive no pleasure from it due to the nicotine vaccine, and that can help
them kick the habit.”

Previously tested vaccines that delivered nicotine antibodies directly
failed in clinical trials because they lasted only a few weeks and had
inconsistent results.

In conducting the new study, researchers engineered a nicotine antibody
and inserted it into a harmless virus. The vaccine was made to target
liver cells, which, in turn, produce a steady stream of the nicotine
antibodies.

When used on mice, the researchers found their vaccine produced high
levels of the nicotine antibody, preventing the chemical from ever
reaching the brain.

The researchers said the vaccine is completely safe and may someday
even be used to prevent addiction to nicotine in people who never
smoked.

“Just as parents decide to give their children a [human papillomavirus]
vaccine, they might decide to use a nicotine vaccine,” Crystal said. “We
would, of course, have to weigh benefit versus risk, and it would take
years of studies to establish such a threshold.”

The study is scheduled for publication June 27 in the journal
Science Translational Medicine.

More information

The American Cancer Society has more about how to quit smoking.

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