Office of Technology Management
Multivalent
Antibodies as Vaccines
Summary:
University
of Texas Health Science Center researchers have developed a method for
eliciting immune response through the use of human-derived antibody material
rather than foreign antigens. This method eliminates unwanted side
effects such as allergic anaphylactic shock associated with some vaccines
or reversion of attenuated vaccines to a virulent state.
The
effective triggering of immune response by human-derived antibody vaccines
has been demonstrated through the immunization of rabbits with a vaccine
consisting of multiple F(ab')2 fragments of affinity purified anti-tetanus
toxoid antibodies covalently bound to a carrier protein. The vaccine
successfully induced anti-tetanus toxoid antibodies in the absence of biologically
detectable tetanus antigen (1).
The advantages of this method include the elimination of allergic reactions to foreign antigens and the necessary contaminants in them (e.g. the egg proteins in rabies and influenza vaccines or the tissue culture-derived contaminants in many vaccines such as polio vaccines).
Technology Status:
This
patent is available for licensing from UT-Houston Health Science Center.
Patent Status:
Patent
pending
Scott
Rodkey, Ph.D.
Publication:
1)
Seferian, P. G., Rodkey, L. S., Multivalent antibody induces active antibody
synthesis, Vaccine Research (1992) 1:4.