Albany Med Scientists Report Major Discovery in NIH-Funded Biodefense Research
Albany, N.Y., July 17, 2007 - An Albany Medical College research team has shown in experiments that specific antiserum can protect laboratory mice against respiratory tularemia, the most dangerous form of the disease. Their findings suggest this may be a possible alternative treatment approach to traditional antibiotics that might prove useful early on in the event of an act of bioterrorism involving this particular infectious agent.
The research was reported in the July 1 issue of The Journal of Immunology.
Dennis Metzger, Ph.D., professor, Theobald Smith Alumni Chair, and director of the Center for Immunology and Microbial Disease at Albany Medical Center, and his team treated mice with a serum containing tularemia-specific antibodies. They found that not only did the serum protect the mice against tularemia when given before exposure to lethal doses of the pathogen (prophylactically), but it also gave them protection when given up to two days after bacterial exposure and thus could be used therapeutically to prevent disease.
"In the event of a bioterrorism attack using respiratory tularemia, this serum could be useful especially in the absence of a licensed vaccine or in the case of the release of an antibiotic resistant strain. The tularemia-specific antibodies may enhance an individual?s immune responses to the bacteria after exposure, essentially acting as a surrogate vaccine," says Metzger. Further, he says the approach is rapid and specific. Also, he says if further research demonstrates that the technique is effective and safe in humans, it could potentially be used in people with weakened immune systems and minimize the chances of the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
The work was supported by an $8.3 million grant Albany Medical College received from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in 2003 to establish a biodefense research program specializing in the study of tularemia, a bacterial disease. The grant was the largest research grant in the history of Albany Medical College. Various ongoing tularemia research projects are conducted in a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory, one step down from the highest biosafety level. Additional support for this study came from a Career Development Award from the Northeast Regional Center of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infections.
Francisella tularensis, the scientific name of the bacterium that causes tularemia, is considered a Category A (the highest) biothreat by the NIAID because of its extreme infectivity (very little exposure is needed to cause disease), ease of dissemination, and substantial capacity to cause illness and death. Tularemia infection through contact with infected animals or contaminated soil or water usually causes a systemic infection that is easily treated with antibiotics, according to Dr. Metzger. However when bacteria are inhaled into the lungs, tularemia can be lethal, and more difficult to treat with antibiotics. All research conducted at Albany Med focuses on this pulmonary form of tularemia, the form most likely to be used by bioterrorists and the form of which the least is known.
Dr. Metzger cautions that more research needs to be done on the antibody treatment to assess if it will work the same way in humans as it does in animals and then whether it would be safe in humans, but he says this is an important first step.
Albany Medical Center is northeastern New York?s only academic health sciences center. It consists of Albany Medical College, Albany Medical Center Hospital and the Albany Medical Center Foundation, Inc
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Beth Engeler
