FLICKR, ACID PIXDecades of research into a vaccine that could help people stop using cocaine have had relatively little success, with none proving widely effective in fighting addiction. Perhaps the bacterial protein flagellin and a cocaine hapten called GNE could be the key, according to a study published last month (December 22) in Molecular Pharmaceutics.
Kim Janda of Scripps Research Institute and his colleagues developed a modified recombinant flagellin protein that displayed GNE. When injected into mice, the conjugate molecule elicited dose-dependent expression of anti-GNE antibodies.
“This work represents a new avenue for exploration in the use of hapten-flagellin conjugates to elicit antihapten immune responses,” the researchers wrote in their report.
