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Vaccines set to target immune panic button
27 January 2007
From New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.
Andy Coghlan
A NEW generation of vaccines that exploit natural "alarm bells" in the
immune system could be turned against killer diseases such as
tuberculosis, malaria and HIV.
To press the panic button, the vaccines use adjuvants - substances that
put the immune system on alert, making it more likely to notice the
vaccine. Some vaccine injections are already augmented with adjuvant
chemicals such as aluminium hydroxide, but the new vaccines have built-in
genes for making their own adjuvants.
These adjuvants mobilise the immune system against the particular disease
the vaccine targets, making the immune response more focused and potent
when the body is infected by the real thing. Vaccines for malaria have
already worked in mice, and human trials should start within two years.
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More:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19325884.100?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg19325884.100.