A team of investigators from UNMC and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have developed a vaccine that shows promise in breaking the methamphetamine (meth) addition.
The researchers demonstrated the vaccine’s anti-meth effect in rat models. The results of this research will be published in the April 20 issue of the scientific journal, Vaccine.
The team includes UNMC scientists Sam Sanderson, Ph.D., School of Allied Health Professions; Geoff Thiele, Ph.D., and Michael Duryee, Ph.D., of the department of internal medicine; and Yuxiang Dong, Ph.D., of the department of pharmaceutical sciences. UNL Department of Psychology scientists are Rick Bevins, Ph.D., Carmela Reichel and Jennifer Murray also assisted with the research.
The results of the study showed that rat models immunized with the vaccine generate high quantities of anti-meth antibodies. When meth is administered, the antibodies rapidly and effectively bind to the drug in circulation, which reduces entry of the drug into the brain. Researchers demonstrated that the anti-meth effect from the initial vaccination is retained weeks later, even after challenged with large amounts of the drug.
Results suggest that the vaccination may be an important approach to treating meth addiction and abuse in humans since it “attacks” the drug directly. When used as a complimentary approach to standard therapies such as behavior modification, vaccination could provide a powerful dual method for the treatment of meth abuse/addiction.
Have research that’s about to be published? Let us know. Send a note to today@unmc.edu about your research, the publication it will appear in and the date it’s set to run and we’ll feature it in an upcoming Research Notes.