COLUMBUS, Ohio - Researchers here have shown that mice injected with fragments of DNA from anthrax bacteria can be immunized against the disease. In traditional vaccine approaches, researchers have used live, weakened or dead pathogens - or proteins produced by the organisms - to produce an immune response.

This new approach represents a new -- and perhaps, safer -- way to produce vaccines against highly contagious diseases.

This latest study, published in a recent issue of the journal Infection and Immunity, improves on earlier work that suggested that DNA-based vaccines might be effective. By using combinations of two gene products produced by the bacteria responsible for causing anthrax -Bacillus anthracis - the researchers were able to successfully immunize mice against the disease.

The work was headed by Darrell Galloway, associate professor of microbiology at Ohio State University, and colleagues at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research and the Biological Defense Research Directorate program at the Naval Medical Research Center in Silver Spring, MD.

Anthrax is a lethal disease if not detected shortly after exposure to bacterial spores. Antibiotics are effective in halting it if given soon after exposure before any symptoms develop. It is o
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Contact: Darrell Galloway
Galloway.3@osu.edu
614-292-3761
Ohio State University
15-Oct-2001

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