Our own DNA found to aid vaccination

An unexpected mode of action for the vaccine adjuvant alum has been discovered by the teams of Doctor Christophe Desmet and Professor Fabrice Bureau, of the Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Physiology within the University of Liège’s GIGA-Research centre, and of Professor Ken Ishii at the University of Osaka in Japan. It appears that when a vaccine containing alum is injected, contact with alum pushes certain cells of the body to release their own DNA. The presence of this DNA outside the cells, a place where it is not to be found in normal conditions, thus acts as a stimulant of the immune system and strongly boosts the response to the vaccine. Alum, a salt of aluminium, is currently by far the most widely used vaccine adjuvant. Developed in the middle of the twentieth century, alum has largely demonstrated its effectiveness and safety of use. That it is why it is found...