Nose-Spray Vaccine Against Botulism Effective in Early Tests

A preclinical study found a new nasal spray vaccine to provide complete protection against a major botulism toxin, according to a study published today in the Nature journal **Gene Therapy**. **Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs)** have been designated Category A bioterrorism agents that pose a high risk to national security because they are deadly, easily prepared and could conceivably be spread **by inhalation**. “In this study, we found that our vaccine could provide complete protection in one dose against one of the seven BoNTs, which strongly suggests that the same platform could be applied to build a multi-component vaccine against the remaining six,” said Mingtao Zeng, Ph.D., assistant professor within Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, principal investigator and corresponding author of the study. “With these findings, we believe the design of a safe and inexpensive subunit vaccine can now proceed rapidly.” More "Physorg":[ http://www.physorg.com/news150731070.html]

---