Drug that could aid in vaccine development activates innate immune system in a novel way

A new drug with the potential to aid in vaccine development has been identified by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “The drug we made appears safe, and boosts immunity in mice. Therefore, the drug, which is straightforward to synthesize and to couple to antigens that induce an immune response, may prove useful in the generation of vaccines,” says Bruce Beutler, MD, director of UT Southwestern’s Center for the Genetics of Host Defense. The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, builds on work that earned Beutler a share of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his use of classic genetics approaches to identify the mammalian LPS (lipopolysaccharide) receptor TLR4, which engages LPS particles on Gram-negative bacteria and initiates an immune response. In so doing, Beutler demonstrated that the mammalian Toll-like receptors (TLRs) sense microbial infections and launch the body’s immune response. “This is the first drug...