New vaccine provides instant immunity

LA JOLLA, Calif., March 4 (UPI) -- A new type of vaccination could be used to provide instantaneous protection against viruses, bacteria, cancers and virulent toxins, U.S. researchers say.

The research team, led by Scripps Research Institute's Carlos Barbas III, tested the vaccination method -- covalent immunization -- on mice with either melanoma or colon cancer.

The scientists injected the mice with chemicals specifically designed to trigger a programmable and "universal" immune reaction. They developed other chemicals, "adapter" molecules," that recognized the specific cancer cells. Once injected into the animal, the adapter molecules self-assembled with the antibodies to create covalent antibody-adapter complexes, Barbas says.

"The antibodies in our vaccine are designed to circulate inertly until they receive instructions from tailor-made small molecules to become active against a specific target," Barbas said in a statement.

"The advantage of this method is that it opens up the possibility of having antibodies primed and ready to go in the time it takes to receive an injection or swallow a pill."

The work is published in the early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.