By IANS
London : Aerosol-delivered vaccines based on poxviruses have been found to be safe and effective in a trial on monkeys and are now ready for clinical trial on humans.
These vaccines would be particularly suited to developing countries, hamstrung by lack of trained personnel and hygiene and taboos against injected vaccines, Scidev.net reported.
It would be effective against genital herpes, hepatitis B and HIV, infections that enter the body through mucous membranes, said researchers.
The study, the findings of which are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this month, illustrates that aerosol works as a delivery mechanism in such diseases.
The researchers tested for safety and immune response using two vaccines, one based on an experimental HIV vaccine and the other a human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine.
Rhesus macaque monkeys were administered vaccines delivered through a nebuliser, a device that turns liquid medication into vapour and face mask.
The scientists found that the vaccines were safe and absorbed mainly into the respiratory tract and lungs, eliciting “robust and long lasting” immune response.
Jean-Pierre Kraehenbuhl of the Eurovacc Foundation at the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research (ISREC) and coordinator of the study told SciDev.Net that the next step is phase I clinical trials in humans, later this year.