Injection that could vaccinate newborns
A JAB could vaccinate children at birth against a range of diseases including whooping cough and meningitis.
Normally the immune systems of new babies do not respond to most vaccines, leaving them at high risk for the first two months of their lives.
But a compound discovered at Boston Children’s Hospital in the US stimulates an immune response to infections, which kill over 2million infants under six months each year worldwide.
“VTX-294 was sometimes actually more effective in newborns than adults.
Published online in the journal PLOS ONE, the research identified a white blood cell receptor called TLR 8.
This reacted to a benzazepine drug called VTX-294. It proved to be 10 times more effective than any other known compound.
Lead researcher Dr Ofer Levy said: “VTX-294 was sometimes actually more effective in newborns than adults.” He now hopes to make a vaccine to test on newborn primates.