RESEARCHERS in Japan have showcased a study confirming the potential for a "biocompatible polymer" to deliver vaccines and drugs with reduced risk of anaphylaxis, in a report published in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.
The report notes that until now the polymer of choice for encasing and delivering vaccines has been polyethylene glycol (PEG), which has been used to surround some COVID-19 vaccines carried within tiny spherical packages known as liposomes.
However some recipients have suffered an allergic reaction to PEG, with the alternative polymer being a form of fatty biomolecule called a lipid, which is conjugated to 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphyrylcholine (MPC) polymer.
"This new substance spontaneously binds to the outside of liposome particles when mixed with them in water...crucially, the polymer is not recognised by the antibodies that the body can generate in response to PEG, and tests suggest it does not stimulate any other antibodies that could cause an allergic reaction," the researchers noted.
"This should allow coated liposomes containing a vaccine to be retained in the body for a longer time without being cleared by the immune system, in addition to avoiding anaphylaxis," said team leader Yuyi Teramura from Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
"All the indications suggest that our technology should be suitabkle for delivering vaccines into patients who develop anaphylaxis in response to PEG," he said.
The polymer must now undergo thorough testing in various real vaccine applications, prior to eventual clinical trials in humans.
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