Doctors Testing Nicotine Vaccine That Could One Day Prevent
Smoking CBS News reports: Much like vaccines for diseases that
create antibodies to fight infection, the vaccine creates
antibodies against nicotine. However, previous attempts at
similar vaccines have failed because within a few weeks the
antibodies are gone, which won't exactly help people stay smoke-
free. Crystal's team developed a vaccine that contains a virus
consisting of a genetic sequence they engineered from a nicotine
antibody, and injected it into the liver of mice. The injection
genetically modifies the liver to churn out nicotine antibodies,
along with other cells it typically makes, thus providing a
nicotine antibody "factory" in the body... The antibodies then
work by targeting the nicotine cells within seconds of exposure
and preventing them from reaching receptors in the brain that
provide the "chill out" feeling, as Crystal called it. The
vaccine, which Crystal says could be tested on humans within a
few years, would most likely be