Tested to prove that the spray anthrax vaccine is highly effective

According to a study published in Clinical and Vaccine Immunology , a new anthrax vaccine to prevent anthrax is proven to have better, more efficient protection against weapons. Popular biology. With this new vaccine, the researchers sought to take two steps at once: modifying the vaccine component while changing the form through nasal spray rather than injection.

Anthrax caused by Bacillus anthracis. This is a particle-shaped gamete-borne bacterium with regenerative ability in extremely harsh environments. According to the US Department of Defense in recent years, anthrax has become a top choice as a biological weapon in microbial warfare because their gametes are easily transported by plane. Letters, rockets, or planes that fertilize plants can all be used to spread the disease. They will follow the wind for hundreds of miles, lying dormant in the soil for decades. Following the September 11, 2001 incident, terrorist attacks, anthropomorphic gamete letters were sent to 22 American men and women, five of whom died. Saddam Hussein built weapons containing anthrax spore. And Boris Yeltsin said that the former Soviet Union also had a biological weapons program that overwhelmed the pre-war Iraq program.

The US military requires military personnel in high-risk areas to receive only the FDA-approved anthrax vaccine - BioThraxTM - produced by BioPort Corporation / Emergent Defense Operations. According to the defense ministry, the vaccine was certified by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1998 and about 1.8 million Americans have been vaccinated since that time. Each person needs 6 shots and 1 nose per year. While 1.8 million people have been injected since 1998, only 7 million doses have been given. '

Mingtao Zeng - a doctor and assistant professor of Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, he is also a co-author with Qingfu Xu of Rochester Medical Center - said: 'Research Our research shows that the system of drug delivery through the mucosa creates a second immune layer against anthrax by introducing disease-resistant cells into the mucous membrane lining the nose with the blood membrane and only 3 doses are needed. . That, along with the newly quantified vaccine component, will be important steps in the race to ensure the military has stronger defenses with a more easily used vaccine. '

Although this study was performed on mice, there is a lot of evidence of the impact of the currently available certified vaccine on many animals. The common challenge when studying many vaccine strains is: ' human anthrax vaccine cannot be tested by introducing pathogens into the body '.

The electron scanning microscope with a magnification of 31,207 times had a gamete image of the Bacillus anthracis bacteria of the Sterne strain.(Photo: Janice Haney Carr)

Controversy over the effectiveness of the existing vaccine, the US military cited the CDC study that has been around since the 1950s when the previous version of the vaccine protected the home workers. Machine at the time of skin anthrax and lung anthrax exploded. Twenty-five of the 754 unvaccinated workers had skin anthrax, while only 1 out of 379 vaccinated workers had this form of the disease. In the course of the study, only 5 out of all unvaccinated workers also suffered from lung anthrax, 4 of them died. The vaccine also protects 95% of monkeys and 97% of rabbits in other studies. The US Food and Drug Administration has issued several certifications to ensure that the existing vaccine is safe and effective.

Despite the evidence, some critics argue that no large-scale research has been done on the human body about the vaccine being licensed, giving rise to a question of branding. Results of vaccines against the modern version of anthrax bacteria used as biological weapons. There was an incident where several soldiers were involved in a lawsuit with the team because they refused to vaccinate because they believed the vaccine was not safe. The formulation of the existing vaccine was established before the molecular biology revolution took place in the 1980s. Today, vaccines are created based on an accurate understanding of pathogens and protein structure. Older vaccines that contain many mixed ingredients are sometimes not accurately quantified.

To answer the questions, vaccine researchers have been looking for a number of ways to create a vaccine that contains a more accurate combination of Bacillus anthracis antigens. In the most recent study, the current vaccine series was improved by two ways: distribution through mucous membranes and accurate quantification of ingredients. Thick membranes in the mouth, nose, and throat mucus help protect these surfaces when exposed to the external environment. The mucous membrane itself has its own disease-resistant cells concentrated in lymphoid tissue attached to the mucous membrane. These cells share the same family but differ from the immune cells in the blood, lymph nodes or spleen.

Scientists believe that the distribution of vaccines through mucous membranes stimulates both active immune cell groups, creating a double-layer defense line with very high efficacy when the mucous screen is in direct contact with the disease gamete. coal . Vaccination can only stimulate the body's immune system. In addition, according to researchers, the mucous membrane does not cause pain, so it is convenient even when multiple doses are used.

The goal of the human body's immune system is to recognize and destroy invading organisms, remember and resist if they enter the body again. In fact, the vaccine contains non-infectious weakened or detoxifying forms of pathogenic molecules that help the immune system remember if these molecules appear. When researchers identified the necessary immune response, they could choose to include a multi-component vaccine with key antigens to get the most effective defense. The immune system does not respond to the presence of viruses or bacteria that respond to specific proteins (antigens) on the surface of the pathogen or the pathogen secreted so that they are exposed.

Previous studies have shown that anthrax bacteria secrete three toxic proteins that destroy important immune cells, thereby destroying other cells and tissues. Interesting are the same poisons, but if the sea changes a little, it is the best ingredients to make the vaccine. These toxins are protective antigens (PA), lethal factor (LF) and edema factor (EF). PA attaches to receptors on the outer surface of immune cells macrophages and forms a hole that helps EF and LF enter the cell. Once inside. LF signals to self-destruct to cells, while EF produces harmful fluids (causing swelling). Because macrophage cells must remove toxins from the body, they are destroyed, thereby increasing the amount of toxins quickly reaching dangerous levels for cells.

PA plays a central role in the process of anthrax infection, the immune system has evolved to recognize this antigen very well. However, PA itself cannot cause illness if it is not combined with LF or EF, so this is a perfect vaccine component. The composition of the current vaccine is primarily PA, with an unknown amount of LF and EF injected directly into the bloodstream. Vaccines are being studied to change components containing PA and PA63 biologically flexible as the first component of the vaccine.

The key innovation in the group's study was the addition of detoxified LF to PA63 to create a stronger immune response . Previous studies have shown that scientists can eliminate LF toxins by using molecular techniques to replace its amino acid block. The lethal mutation of LF (also called mLF ) was first created more than a decade ago in the laboratory of Dr. Stephen H. Leppla - of the Bacterial Pathogen Research Laboratory. - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) (under the National Institutes of Health). Although first created more than 10 years ago, no one knows for sure if it is a good ingredient for anthrax vaccine. Everyone is hopeful that the detoxified mLF is safe for the human body, plus that the immune system of the injected person can still identify the non-mutated form of detoxification.

In the experiment, Zeng's team used 32 mice equally divided into 4 groups. Each group received a nasal spray 3 times in 4 weeks: once only PA, only lethal mLF for the second time, the third combined both PA and mLF in a controlled dose or solution. The animal was then tested with B. anthracis Sterne gametes under the skin. The results were surprising: all mice given the mixed vaccine (60 µg PA63 / 30 µg mLF) were completely protected from the effects of anthrax gametes and survived . Only 60% of mice injected with PA63 survived, and 30% of those vaccinated with mLF. All the animals injected with the solution died within 5 days after exposure to the disease-causing gamete.

Experimental results showed that nasal spray vaccine combined with PA63 and mLF stimulated significantly higher resistance to PA or LF than vaccines containing only one component of PA63 or mLF with the same dose ( P value <0.05). According to the researchers, it can be concluded from the results that PA63 and mLF have a mutual effect that increases the effectiveness of the immune response. Two types of immune cells, T cells and antibodies, help the immune system remember the invading bacteria. The ratio of each cell type is closely monitored.

To find out whether the mixed nasal mucous spray vaccine can stimulate the immune system in the mucous membrane, the researchers measured the ratio of anti-PA antibodies and anti-LF antibodies in saliva. nasal mucus and mucus samples in vaccinated animals. Three doses at a rate of 60 µg PA63 / 30 µg mLF significantly stimulate the reaction of anti-PA antibodies and anti-LF antibodies compared to vaccines containing only one component of PA63 or mLF.

In addition, modern vaccines take protein as a basis (the mechanism that works as in the experiment) using detoxified specific proteins that are similar in structure to bacterial proteins in general or pathogenic bacteria. Anthrax in particular creates (but not all) should have a higher level of safety. According to scientists, this new combination of vaccines should be certified for future use in humans, which will be simpler, safer and have lower production costs.

Zeng said: ' This study has for the first time demonstrated that the lethal lethal toxin toxin can be used as an effective component for mucous vaccine without the need for an additional adjuvant . Other antigens, such as the N-BNP hormonal part of the causing factor, glycoproteins attached to gametes, poly-gamma-d-glutamic acid, are resistant to the shell and other components of B. anthracis bacteria have also been shown to be capable of making vaccine components. Future vaccines may contain one of these factors along with two components that we have tested. '