Cited by 279Smoking Behavior and CessationMonoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies ResearchImmunotherapy and Immune Responses

A therapeutic vaccine for nicotine dependence: preclinical efficacy, and Phase I safety and immunogenicity

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Maurer, Patrik, Jennings, Gary T., Willers, Jörg, Rohner, Franziska, Lindman, Ylva, Roubicek, Kirsten, Renner, Wolfgang A., Müller, Philipp +1 more·2005·European Journal of Immunology

Abstract

Nicotine is the principal addictive component in tobacco, and following uptake acts in the central nervous system. The smoking-cessation efforts of most smokers fail because a single slip often delivers sufficient nicotine to the brain to reinstate the drug-seeking behaviour. Blocking nicotine from entering the brain by induction of specific antibodies may be an effective means to prevent such relapses. The hapten nicotine was coupled to virus-like particles (VLP) formed by the coat protein of the bacteriophage Qb. In preclinical experiments, this Nicotine-Qb VLP (NicQb) vaccine induced strong antibody responses. After intravenous nicotine challenge, vaccinated mice exhibited strongly reduced nicotine levels in the brain compared with control mice. In a phase I study, 32 healthy non-smokers were immunized with NicQb. The vaccine was safe and well-tolerated. All volunteers who received NicQb showed nicotine-specific IgM antibodies at day 7 and nicotine-specific IgG antibodies at day 14. Antibody levels could be boosted by a second injection or the addition of Alum as an adjuvant and the antibodies had a high affinity for nicotine. These data suggest that antibodies induced by NicQb may prevent relapses by sequestering nicotine in the blood of immunized smokers.

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  • Early phase 1/2 clinical trials in humans have demonstrated drug safety, effective immunogenicity, and promising increases in abstinence rates, especially among individuals with higher levels of anti-nicotine IgGs.

    “Early phase 1/2 clinical trials in humans have demonstrated drug safety, effective immunogenicity, and promising increases in abstinence rates, especially among individuals with higher levels of anti-nicotine IgGs [253–256].”

    From Mechanistic insights into nicotine withdrawal (2011) · cites this paper as [256]

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Authors
Maurer, P., Jennings, G. T., Willers, J., Rohner, F., Lindman, Y., Roubicek, K., Renner, W. A., Müller, P., & Bachmann, M. F.
Corresponding author
Bachmann, Martin F.
Venue
European Journal of Immunology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2005-07
Volume
35
Issue
7
Pages
2031-2040
ISSN
  • 0014-2980 (ISSN-L)
  • 1521-4141
OpenAlex
W1975983467
Cited by
279
References
34
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 15
FWCI
11.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • European Journal of Immunology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Monoclonal and Polyclonal Antibodies Research
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immunotherapy and Immune Responses
Keywords
nicotine dependence, therapeutic vaccines, smoking cessation, virus-like particles, hapten-protein conjugates, relapse prevention, vaccine safety, immunogenicity, alum adjuvant, antibody affinity
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Animals, Double-Blind Method, Drug Evaluation, Preclinical, Female, Humans, Immunoglobulin G, Male, Middle Aged, Nicotine, Tobacco Use Disorder, Vaccines, Vaccines, Synthetic, Allolevivirus, Mice

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