( An oral vaccine can prevent mice from d...)Vaccine Prevents Prion Disease in Mice,Health

An oral vaccine can prevent mice from developing a brain disease similar to mad cow disease, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 59th Annual Meeting in Boston, April 28 May 5, 2007. Prion diseases, which include scrapie, mad cow disease, and chronic wasting disease, are fatal and there is no treatment or cure.

The disease spreads when an animal eats the body parts of other animals contaminated with prions. The disease causes dementia and abnormal limb movements.

Prion is a protein that is also an infectious agent. The proteins are so similar to proteins found normally that the immune system does not fight them off. To develop a vaccine that would stimulate the mice's immune system, researchers attached prion proteins to a genetically modified strain of Salmonella.

For the study, the mice were orally vaccinated with a safe, attenuated Salmonella strain, which expressed the prion protein. Then they were divided into two groups those who had high levels of antibodies in their blood and thus responded well to the vaccine and those with low levels of antibodies.

The mice with high levels of antibodies had no symptoms of the disease after 400 days. The mice with low levels of antibodies also had a significant delay in the onset of the disease. It normally takes 120 days for mice that have not been vaccinated to develop the disease.

"These are promising findings," said study author Thomas Wisniewski, MD, of NYU School of Medicine in New York, and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "We are now in the process of redesigning the vaccine so it can be used on deer and cattle."

Wisniewski said much more work is needed before the vaccine could be considered for humans. "The human version of prion disease usually occurs spontaneously and only rarely because of eating contaminated meat," he said. "But if, for example, a more significant
'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Vaccine to quit smoking?
2. First Vaccine Designed for Africa Cleared for Testing in Humans
3. Vaccine for Alzheimer’s diseas
4. Health Officials Recommend Flu Vaccine
5. Smallpox Vaccine May Help Fight Cervical Cancer
6. Panacea Biotech To Market Anthrax Vaccine
7. New Prostate Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise
8. Drug Firm Offers to Donate Smallpox Vaccine
9. Vaccine guards against shingles
10. Vaccine for septic conditions
11. A new Vaccine for Pneumonia