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April 3, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"E. Coli Patch Vaccine Elicits Systemic Immune Response" Reuters Health Information Services (www.reutershealth.com)

(04/02/02)

Researchers from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland report in the April issue of Infection and Immunity that a vaccine applied through a patch on the skin is able to elicit an aggressive immune response against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC).  A transcutaneous vaccine containing ETEC colonization factor CS6 plus heat-labile entertoxin (LT), and another containing only CS6 were developed and tested on 26 adults at  Walter Reed's Pilot BioProduction Facility.  In all, 68 percent and 53 percent of the subjects receiving the LT/CS6 vaccine developed anti-CS6 IgG antibodies and IgA serum antibodies.  A delayed-type hypersensitivity test revealed that 14 of the 19 LT/CS6 recipients demonstrated a T-cell response in comparison to seven CS6-only recipients, which signified to researchers the importance of LT's role in eliciting an immune response.

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