THURSDAY, Oct. 30, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- Two prototype oral vaccines protect against a dangerous virus in newborn mice, researchers report.
If the vaccines can do the same in humans, they may offer protection against infectious diseases to newborns in developing countries, the researchers add.
In a proof-of-principle study, the vaccines, based on human and chimpanzee adenoviruses, were engineered to incorporate a gene from the rabies virus. Newborn mice who received the vaccines developed antibodies that protected them from subsequent exposure to the rabies virus.
The researchers say this same vaccine strategy may also prove effective against other viral diseases such as measles, viral respiratory infections and viral diarrhea.
"These new vaccines we've developed trigger the production of protective antibodies in newborn mice during a time in their lives when traditional vaccines are commonly less than effective," senior author Dr. Hildegund C.J. Ertl, professor and head of the immunology program at the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, says in a prepared statement.
"This has potentially important public health implications, especially in the developing world. In addition, these are oral vaccines, which could make them easier to distribute and administer in those same areas," Ertl says.
The study was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Immunology.
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