Need Help To Quit Smoking? - Nanotechnology Could Help, Says Arizona State University
Everyone knows that one person in office or at the university who gets restless when the quick smoke break is denied. However hard they try, they just can't quit smoking. So, for all those who need help in quitting that hazardous habit, Yung Chang and her colleagues at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute have launched an ambitious new project designed to attack nicotine dependence in a totally novel manner. After having received $3.3 million grant from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, their research is aimed at designing a vaccine conferring immunity to nicotine, using nanoscale structures assembled from DNA.
The working of vaccines depends on teaching the body's immune system to recognize and attack the offending substance, clearing it from the body before it can do any damage. For the best response, the target molecule must be properly displayed alongside immune system jump-starters that elicit an immediate response. By arranging these components on a nano-sized DNA scaffold that self-assembles into a precise 3D structure, the research team has created a vaccine delivery molecule that more closely mimics the natural components of the immune system.
"The DNA nanostructure enables rational design and construction of synthetic vaccines, because of its precision control over the placement of various antigenic components," Chang says. "This approach may offer a new strategy to improve the efficacy of many different vaccines." The researchers hope to identify promising candidates for a new nicotine vaccine and advance them toward Investigational New Drug submission. The researchers emphasize that if their DNA nanotechnology approach proves successful, it could plausibly be applied to the development of future vaccines against any target of interest, including other drugs of abuse, infectious agents or tumor antigens, thereby opening an entirely new chapter in vaccine development
The working of vaccines depends on teaching the body's immune system to recognize and attack the offending substance, clearing it from the body before it can do any damage. For the best response, the target molecule must be properly displayed alongside immune system jump-starters that elicit an immediate response. By arranging these components on a nano-sized DNA scaffold that self-assembles into a precise 3D structure, the research team has created a vaccine delivery molecule that more closely mimics the natural components of the immune system.
"The DNA nanostructure enables rational design and construction of synthetic vaccines, because of its precision control over the placement of various antigenic components," Chang says. "This approach may offer a new strategy to improve the efficacy of many different vaccines." The researchers hope to identify promising candidates for a new nicotine vaccine and advance them toward Investigational New Drug submission. The researchers emphasize that if their DNA nanotechnology approach proves successful, it could plausibly be applied to the development of future vaccines against any target of interest, including other drugs of abuse, infectious agents or tumor antigens, thereby opening an entirely new chapter in vaccine development
Replies
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Anoop MathewSo in normal language does it mean smokers can continue smoking their favorite brand of cigarette and then they just have to use this vaccine to kill the germs? - if so then everyone will start smoking! -
Sarathkumar ChandrasekaranI dont agree with anoop .I think it decrease the urge to smoke.
Definitely nano Technology going to rule the medical field in an extraordinary Männer. -
loveboxYes, I also agree with #-Link-Snipped-# that it will decrease the urge to smoke, but only in present non-smokers.
The urge to smoke arises due to dependence of the brain on nicotine. If the vaccine attacks nicotine itself, then it would not create an urge in the brain for nicotine.
But this will work only if the vaccine is administered to a present non-smoker. This would create immunity in him/her against nicotine and prevent dependence.
But someone who smokes regularly at present would have already developed psychological dependence on nicotine, and while the vaccine may reduce or nullify the effect of nicotine on the body, the brain would continue to send urges to smoke.
Nevertheless, a very noble and a much needed research.
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