2014年2月13日訊來自美國杜克大學的研究人員最近在華盛頓召開的the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting上公布了其用于治療西尼羅河病毒的鼻霧疫苗的早期研究結果。小鼠實驗結果顯示改種疫苗能夠在兩次免疫后對病毒起到免疫作用。來自杜克大學的研究人員將疫苗使用的抗原數(shù)由三個降低至兩個。

西尼羅河病毒是一種通過蚊蟲傳播的疾病，能夠引起包括腦部炎癥在內的一系列并發(fā)癥，有很大威脅性。此前該病主要分布在中東、非洲、歐洲等地。近年來北美地區(qū)也開始出現(xiàn)這一疾病的蹤跡。然而目前醫(yī)學界并沒有一種專門用于預防西尼羅河病毒的疫苗。這也成為目前防止該病毒的當務之急。

詳細英文報道：

Researchers at Duke University have shown in early tests that a nasal vaccine for West Nile Virus is effective in mice after two doses as opposed to the traditional three for other vaccines. There is currently no vaccine for the disease available for humans, despite its recent spread in the U.S. and Canada.

The nasal administration, presented at the American Society for Microbiology Biodefense and Emerging Diseases Research Meeting in Washington, D.C., could offer a quick-hit solution to what has become a global issue. The mosquito-borne virus, which can cause inflammation of the brain among other symptoms, has been around in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Australia for decades, according to a release from the society, but has only in the last 15 years been reported in North America, affecting thousands and killing over 100 in 2013, the CDC says.

For the vaccine, the Duke researchers modified an existing experimental nasal formulation of antigens to cut the number of immunizations needed from three in three weeks to two over a period of two weeks.

In an animal study in which the scientists gave nose drops to mice, the two-dose vaccine protected all of the animals from death by the disease and significantly protected against weight loss associated with West Nile. A smaller dose had a similar effect but was not significant.

"Our results demonstrate that a needle-free (West Nile Virus) vaccine using only two vaccine doses is able to induce protective anti-(West Nile) immunity," researcher Herman Staats said in a statement. "A nasally-administered, needle-free vaccine able to rapidly induce protective immunity with minimal vaccine doses per subject would be beneficial for use during (West Nile Virus) outbreaks."