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【Nature News——编译】疫苗有助于消除肺结核 N
疫苗有助于消除肺结核
Jessica Ebert
在小鼠中的研究结果给解决细菌抗药性的问题带来希望
结核疫苗中含有引起这种病的病原体的DNA，韩国的一个研究小组称将这种疫苗与药物联合应用于感染这种病原体的小鼠时能够治愈这种疾病。
这种联合治疗的方法比现有的单纯药物疗法疗效更加快速 、有效，这给肺结核的治疗带来希望。
肺结核是由结核分枝杆菌所导致的，每年全世界有大约200万人死于此病，这远高于其他的单一性感染性疾病。由于细菌耐药性的出现以及HIV的感染患者逐渐增多，肺结核患者从1985年开始增多；约13%的艾滋病患者死于肺结核。
耐药性结核杆菌的出现部分是由于病人们往往不能彻底的完成抗结核治疗。联合使用抗生素可以彻底杀灭结核杆菌，但是这种疗法需要持续12个月。如果患者经常停止服药那么肺结核就会复发。
伦敦国立医学研究院的免疫学家Douglas Lowrie说：“目前的化疗方法的疗程往往达不到治愈这种疾病所需的时间。”
治疗肺结核的方法不仅需要在短期内能够清除结合分子杆菌还必须能够防止其他种属细菌的再感染。
韩国浦相科技大学由Youngchul Sung领导的研究组在Gene Therapy1上报道了他们发现了能够达到上述目的的新疗法。
Sung的研究组给小鼠接种结核杆菌然后给与标注的药物治疗，另一组在给与药物治疗的同时还给与含结核杆菌DNA的疫苗。
在单纯给与药物治疗的实验组中，结核杆菌的数量停止增长。给与联合治疗的小鼠并无这种迹象，但是联合治疗的实验组中小鼠产生了免疫反应，这能够明显的减少结核杆菌的再感染。
这是第一个显示联合给与疫苗和药物能够加速结核杆菌清除和防止再感染的研究，Lowrie称。
尽管这项研究只限于小鼠中，Lowrie称这种联合疗法进入临床应用“将比任何人想像得都快”。随着多重耐药菌株出现危险的增加，人们迫切的希望这种疗法能进入临床试验。
References
1. Ha S.-J., et al. Gene Therapy published online (2005). doi:10.1038/sj.gt.3302465 | Article |
原文：
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050131/full/050131-12.html
Published online: 3 February 2005; | doi:10.1038/news050131-12
Vaccine helps to banish tuberculosis
Jessica Ebert
Mouse results raise hope in fight against drug-resistant bacteria.
A tuberculosis vaccine containing DNA from the bacterium that causes the disease can cure mice when it is combined with drugs, says a team of researchers from Korea.
The therapy offers the hope of a tuberculosis treatment that works more quickly and effectively than current, drug-only methods.
Tuberculosis, which is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, kills about 2 million people worldwide each year: more than any other single infectious disease. Cases began rising in 1985, owing to the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria and HIV infections; 13% of AIDS deaths are attributed to the disease.
Drug-resistant strains have emerged partly because patients often fail to complete their therapy. Tuberculosis can be tackled with a cocktail of antibiotics, but up to 12 months of treatment are needed. If patients stop taking their drugs too soon, the disease can come back.
"Chemotherapy in its present form is falling short of what is needed," says Douglas Lowrie, an immunologist with the National Institute for Medical Research, London.
A treatment is needed that clears the body of M. tuberculosis in a relatively short time and prevents re-infection from any new source of bacteria.
Researchers led by Youngchul Sung of Pohang University of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea, now report that they have found a treatment that does just those things in mice. Their results are published in Gene Therapy1.
Double whammy
Sung's team took mice with tuberculosis and gave them standard drug therapy with or without an experimental DNA vaccine containing two of the microbe's genes.
In mice given drugs alone, bacteria numbers rose after treatment was stopped. Mice given the combined treatment showed no such flare-up. In addition, the combination therapy triggered an immune response that significantly reduced re-infection with tuberculosis bacteria.
This is the first study showing that giving vaccination and drugs together can accelerate the disappearance of bacteria as well as protecting against re-infection, says Lowrie.
Although this study involved mice, the combination treatment "may get into the clinic faster than one might think", says Lowrie. With the increasing threat of multi-drug-resistant strains, there is a push to get promising therapies into clinical trials.
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-03-24 18:59
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