Vaccine Against Nicotine Addiction

Scientists have created a vaccine against nicotine addiction that has been shown effective in laboratory models. The structure and design are described in the June 18, 2003, issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The scientists used an "immunopharmacotherapy” approach to design a drug that stimulates the immune system to clear the nicotine from the system. To do this, they selected a chemical that resembles nicotine and used 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 is given the vaccine and later smokes a cigarette, the antibodies will clear the nicotine from the system before it reaches the smoker's brain.

The vaccine, when approved, could be given to people undergoing smoking cessation programs to aid their recovery. The scientists used the same approach to design a vaccine against cocaine, currently in clinical trials.

"These new vaccines greatly suppress the reinforcing aspects of a drug,” said principal investigator Kim D. Janda, Ph.D., an investigator in The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at The Scripps Institute (La Jolla, CA, USA). "This could be a general method for vaccine development for drugs of abuse.”




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