Monday, March 9, 2015

Protein Booster May Lead to Better DNA Vaccines and Gene Therapy


   

     Jaquelin Dudley a professor at The University of Texas at Austin and her team have come up with a way to boost the amount of protein a host cell produces when genes are delivered by transfection.  This new manipulation could create DNA vaccines which will be more efficient and less expensive than traditional vaccines.  Dudley's method causes cells to produce novel proteins at levels of 5 to 20 times higher than normal.   The researchers suggest that their findings might lead to better DNA vaccines.  Traditional vaccines train the body to attack viruses by introducing weakened forms of the virus.  DNA vaccines work differently in the sense that the DNA specified by a virus will increase the production of proteins leading to immunity.  Dudley's new method might create a stronger immune response which will make smaller vaccine doses.
     The new discovery could also potentially help another experimental approach of gene therapy.  This treats genetic disorders by replacing or disrupting genes that aren't working correctly.  Gene therapies targeting diseases like Parkinson's, hemophilia, leukemia and cystic fibrosis have been known to cause cancer or even trigger immune responses against cells.  The new method of boosting protein production might prevent the negative effects of gene therapies. 
     The new method of protein production was discovered by chance.  Originally Dudley and her team were attempting to understand how mouse mammary tumor virus manipulates an infected host cell.  Genetic material was expected to produce lower levels of a protein instead of increasing the level of proteins.  Dudley and her teams discovery could lead to more advanced DNA vaccines.


Original article

No comments:

Post a Comment