Novel Uses of Approved Drugs as Mucosal Vaccine Adjuvants
Background: Mucosal vaccination offers several advantages over systemic vaccination. It can induce both mucosal and systemic immunity, and prevents infection rather than resolving it before development of disease. Furthermore, mucosal vaccination is potentially cheap, easily administrable, and suitable for mass vaccinations. However, mucosal vaccination has not achieved its potential due, in large part, to the lack of effective mucosal adjuvants. Thus the development of effective, non-toxic mucosal adjuvants could revolutionize modern day vaccinations.
Technology Description: Cholera toxin (CT) is one of the most potent mucosal adjuvants known, but its toxicity in humans precludes its use as a vaccine adjuvant and the mechanisms by which CT exerts its adjuvant effects are incompletely understood.
UC San Diego researchers have now shown that a specific class of immune cells mediate the mucosal adjuvant effects of CT and have identified new pathways involved in this induction. These novel pathways are central to the mucosal adjuvant activities of CT and identify targets for the development of proprietary novel mucosal adjuvants.
Applications: This invention can provide a unique mucosal adjuvant platform enabling the mucosal vaccination against enteric and respiratory pathogens as well as sexually transmitted infectious agents.
Advantages:
- Expanded market options for FDA-approved phosphodiesterase inhibitors.
- A needle- and syringe-free approach, which improves safety and patient compliance—especially for pediatric patients.
- Amenability to different mucosal routes (e.g., nasal, oral).
- Mechanism that predicts utility of any agent, small molecule or biologic, that modulates cAMP levels.
- Activation of pathways central to the mucosal adjuvant activity of CT while eliminating the need to use CT itself.
State of Development: Pre-clinical and in vitro studies show that induction of novel pathways central to the mucosal adjuvant activity of CT mimics the ability of CT to induce IL-17 secretion by CD4 T cells.
Intellectual Property Information: Patents pending.
Related Materials:
- Lee JB, et. al. Intranasal delivery of cholera toxin induces th17-dominated T-cell response to bystander antigens. (2009) PLoS One. 4(4):e5190.
- Raz E., Organ-specific regulation of innate immunity (2007) Nat Immunol. 8(1):3-4.
- Datta SK, et. al. Vaccination with irradiated Listeria induces protective T cell immunity. (2006) Immunity. 25(1):143-52.
- Hayashi T, et. al. Induction and inhibition of the Th2 phenotype spread: implications for childhood asthma. (2005) J Immunol. 1;174(9):5864-73.
Keywords: vaccination, small molecule, re-purpose, repurpose, cholera toxin, T cells, Th17, IL-17, T cell fate, T cell differentiation, allergy, infection, cancer, STD, sexually-transmitted, platform, enteric, respiratory, nasal, oral, infectious, immunity
Case Number: SD2009-040
Inquiries To: invent@ucsd.edu
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