Smoking, Drinking, Over-Eating

[Troubleshooter]

Who needs genetic engineering when you can market vaccines repeatedly?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0521092701.htm

New Type Of Vaccine Against Nicotine Addiction Developed By TSRI Scientists

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have designed a new way to make vaccines against drugs of abuse that could become a valuable tool for treating addiction by helping the body clear the drug from the bloodstream. The latest vaccine they created using this approach induces the body to clear nicotine.

"These new vaccines greatly suppress the reinforcing aspects of the drug," says principal investigator Kim D. Janda, Ph.D. "Blocking it before it gets to the brain--that's the key."

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Janda and his laboratory, however, have taken an "immunopharmacotherapy" approach. That is, they have designed a drug that stimulates the immune system to clear the nicotine from the system. They based this work on previous successes Janda had in developing a vaccine for another addictive drug--cocaine--which is currently in clinical trials.

The new idea that they have developed is to take a chemical that resembles nicotine and use it to induce an active immune response. In this immune response, the body produces antibodies against nicotine that can neutralize it in the bloodstream. If a smoker later smokes a cigarette, the antibodies will clear the nicotine from the system before it reaches the brain.

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