Two researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine are working to develop a vaccine against cocaine addiction. For the first time, people who become addicted to cocaine may be able to take a medication that will stop their desire for the drug. The vaccine is being developed by the husband and wife team of Dr. Tom Kosten, a psychiatry professor, and his wife Therese, a psychologist and neuroscientist. The vaccine is currently in clinical trials.

The vaccine works by stimulating the immune system to attack when cocaine is taken. Normally, cocaine molecules would be too small to trigger a reaction by the immune system; however, researchers at Baylor have created the vaccine by attaching inactivated cocaine molecules to inactivated cholera proteins. As a result, the body experiences an immune response to the cholera, and subsequently to plain cocaine as well. Antibodies attach to the drug and keep it from getting to the user's brain. If the drug cannot reach the user's brain, the user will not experience a high.

David Eagleman, another Baylor neuroscientist, commented on the project's unique approach:

"It's a very clever idea. ... Scientists have spent the last few decades figuring out reward pathways in the brain and how drugs like cocaine hijack the system. It turns out those pathways are difficult to rewire once they've seen the drug. But the vaccine just circumvents all that."

(Sources: www.msnbc.msn.com)

Labels: cocaine, medications, vaccine

Posted By: Aspen Education Group