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Aqua
Bounty Scientist Led NIH Team in New Approach to Vaccine Delivery
U.S. retains patent
rights for system based on anthrax invasion path.
July 28, 2003
WALTHAM, MA
-- A new vaccine design that directly stimulates immune cells
to fight off viral and other intracellular infections won U.S.
patent protection July 15, with the rights assigned to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (US Patent No. 6,592,872).
The vaccine, which hijacks the anthrax bacterium’s invasion
pathway to deliver whole protein antigens directly to the cellular
immune system, was developed by a team of molecular biologists
at the National Institutes of Health. The team was led by Dr.
Kurt Kilmpel, recently named Chief Scientific Officer for Aqua
Bounty Pacific, Inc.
Mammals react
to invading viruses at the cellular level by recognizing foreign
antigens displayed on the surface of an infected cell. Antigen
presenting cells can then be attacked by immune cells, digested,
and the resulting proteins transported through the Major Histocompatibility
Complex (MHC) processing pathway, bound to MHC-1 molecules and
inactivated. A key problem in the development of antiviral vaccines
has been to deliver innoculating antigens into the MHC-1 pathway.
Alternative bacterial delivery systems operate through the humoral
arm of the immune system, a less efficient pathway to combat intracellular
pathogens.
Klimpel’s
NIH team discovered a direct route to the MHC-1 pathway using
a nontoxic anthrax binding protein to carry antigens associated
with a variety of infective agents into the interior of the cell
structure where they gain access to the pathway. The antigens
then stimulate production of immune cells that can recognize the
infective agent. NIH researchers identified the transport function
of the anthrax toxin genes, separated them from the toxin-producing
genes and assembled a recombinant gene capable of safely carrying
vaccines through the cellular pathway without producing anthrax
toxin.
Among the
pathogens that can be targeted using the new vaccine system are
murine leukemia virus, murine or Rous sarcoma virus, hepatitis
C, malaria and HIV.
About Aqua
Bounty Pacific
Aqua Bounty
Pacific is focused on shrimp broodstock improvement, immunostimulants
and disease diagnostics. The company currently has two products
in late-stage development to combat both viral and bacterial diseases
in shrimp: Shrimp IMS, an immunostimulating feed additive and
topical therapeutant, and a virus-blocking “vaccine”
that specifically targets uptake of White Spot Virus in both uninfected
and previously infected populations.
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