The goal of this work is to study mechanism-based strategies for enhancing the efficacy of immunotherapy against nicotine as a treatment for nicotine dependence in rats. Vaccination against nicotine has substantial efficacy in animal models for attenuating the behavioral effects of nicotine, and early clinical trials show increases in smoking cessation rates. While these data are encouraging, vaccines are not effective in all individuals. A major limitation of nicotine vaccines is their inability to consistently produce high serum antibody levels, and the large individual variability in these levels, which results in many non-responders. Passive immunization with nicotine-specific monoclonal antibodies, an alternative to vaccination, is highly effective in animals and can reliably produce high antibody levels, but is more costly than vaccination. Preliminary data in rats suggest that a combination of vaccination and passive immunization is more effective than vaccination alone.
Aim 1 of this study will confirm and expand these studies using a target antibody concentration strategy (individualized supplementation of vaccinated rats with monoclonal antibody to achieve an effective serum antibody concentration) that could be applied clinically to exploit the advantages of both approaches while conserving monoclonal antibody.
Aim 2 will examine whether the efficacy of immunotherapy can be enhanced by using a polyvalent nicotine vaccine. Preliminary studies have identified 2 nicotine immunogens that produce non cross-reacting antibodies and so are immunologically distinct. Their combined use is predicted to produce additive serum antibody levels and might also reduce the individual variability in response, resulting in fewer non-responders.
This aim will evaluate the efficacy of 2 or 3 distinct nicotine immunogens combined into bi- or trivalent vaccines to determine whether they are more effective than a single immunogen. A second limitation of immunotherapy is that it likely blocks the direct effects of nicotine (reward and reinforcement) to a greater extent than subsequent effects that occur when nicotine is no longer present (craving).
Aim 3 will examine the efficacy of immunotherapy combined with varenicline. Immunotherapy and varenicline have complementary but compatible mechanisms of action and effects, suggesting that their combination would be more effective than either one alone. For all 3 Aims, an integrated set of immunologic, pharmacokinetic and behavioral assays (nicotine self-administration, locomotor sensitization, discrimination) will be used to study mechanisms and assess efficacy.
These Aims explore novel approaches to increasing nicotine vaccine efficacy using strategies with strong preliminary indications of usefulness and high potential for translation into clinical use. They address the principal limitations of a new therapeutic strategy which already appears to have clinical efficacy.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01DA010714-14
Application #
7858253
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDA1-NXR-B (10))
Program Officer
Patel, Amrat
Project Start
1997-02-01
Project End
2013-05-31
Budget Start
2010-06-01
Budget End
2011-05-31
Support Year
14
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$444,524
Indirect Cost
Name
Minneapolis Medical Research Fdn, Inc.
Department
Type
DUNS #
068195064
City
Minneapolis
State
MN
Country
United States
Zip Code
55415
De Biasi, M; McLaughlin, I; Perez, E E et al. (2014) Scientific overview: 2013 BBC plenary symposium on tobacco addiction. Drug Alcohol Depend 141:107-17
Pentel, Paul R; LeSage, Mark G (2014) New directions in nicotine vaccine design and use. Adv Pharmacol 69:553-80
Cornish, Katherine E; de Villiers, Sabina H L; Pravetoni, Marco et al. (2013) Immunogenicity of individual vaccine components in a bivalent nicotine vaccine differ according to vaccine formulation and administration conditions. PLoS One 8:e82557
de Villiers, Sabina H L; Cornish, Katherine E; Troska, Andrew J et al. (2013) Increased efficacy of a trivalent nicotine vaccine compared to a dose-matched monovalent vaccine when formulated with alum. Vaccine 31:6185-93
Chen, Xinyuan; Pravetoni, Marco; Bhayana, Brijesh et al. (2012) High immunogenicity of nicotine vaccines obtained by intradermal delivery with safe adjuvants. Vaccine 31:159-64
LeSage, Mark G; Shelley, David; Pravetoni, Marco et al. (2012) Enhanced attenuation of nicotine discrimination in rats by combining nicotine-specific antibodies with a nicotinic receptor antagonist. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 102:157-62
Pravetoni, M; Keyler, D E; Pidaparthi, R R et al. (2012) Structurally distinct nicotine immunogens elicit antibodies with non-overlapping specificities. Biochem Pharmacol 83:543-50
Pravetoni, M; Keyler, D E; Raleigh, M D et al. (2011) Vaccination against nicotine alters the distribution of nicotine delivered via cigarette smoke inhalation to rats. Biochem Pharmacol 81:1164-70
Cornish, Katherine E; Harris, Andrew C; LeSage, Mark G et al. (2011) Combined active and passive immunization against nicotine: minimizing monoclonal antibody requirements using a target antibody concentration strategy. Int Immunopharmacol 11:1809-15
Harris, Andrew C; Mattson, Christina; Lesage, Mark G et al. (2010) Comparison of the behavioral effects of cigarette smoke and pure nicotine in rats. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 96:217-27

Showing the most recent 10 out of 33 publications