}

More effective vaccines thanks to bacteriophages

2003/03/10 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

The Instituto de Investigación Morada of Great Britain presents a new way of making vaccines with pieces of DNA. The key to the new method are bacteriophages, which consider that the preparation of vaccines will be more economical and simple.
Hepatitis B virus.

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, while the human being suffers no damage. The researchers have introduced the genes of hepatitis B in the bacteriophages, with which they have introduced mice and measured the immune response they generate. The following is compared with the response obtained with the fragments of DNA. Bacteriophages have seen that they are much more effective: to obtain the same response, it is sufficient that the number of bacteriophages is one hundred times smaller than the number of DNA fragments.

The use of bacteriophages in the development of vaccines has other benefits. On the one hand, the DNA fragments introduced in the bacteriophages are protected, so they last longer and are easier to store than the simple DNA fragments. On the other hand, bacteriophages multiply rapidly, which greatly encompasses production.

Gai honi buruzko eduki gehiago

Elhuyarrek garatutako teknologia