Weill Cornell Medical College researchers have developed a nicotine vaccine that works on rodents! This new vaccine uses a harmless virus to alter liver cells that release a stream of nicotine antibodies. So for anyone looking to quit but can’t seem to do it, you will be able to get vaccinated for it! Click below for more details.
Smokers who are struggling to quit may soon find there’s a vaccine for that.
Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College have developed and successfully tested in mice an innovative approach to treating nicotine addiction.
The vaccine uses a harmless virus to genetically modify liver cells so they churn out a steady stream of nicotine antibodies, according to results published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
The antibodies gobble up nicotine the moment it enters the bloodstream, destroying the chemical before it delivers the sought-after fix.
“The antibody is like a little Pac-Man floating around in the blood, and it grabs onto the nicotine and prevents it from reaching the brain, so there’s no reward,†Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell, said.
“With a single administration of the vaccine, we converted the liver to make the antibody, and it lasts for the life of the mouse,†Crystal, the lead investigator, said.
The testing involved hundreds of mice in his New York lab. He plans to test rats next and then primates. Human testing is about three years away, he said.
