A recent American discovery could well pave the way towards needle-free vaccines, as researchers have realized that the skin has its own immune system, which allows it to produce antibodies itself.
“The skin – once thought to be a mostly passive barrier – can produce its own antibodies that fight infections. These results could pave the way for the development of needle-free vaccines that can be applied to the skin,” revealed a pair of American studies shared by the famous scientific journal “Nature”.
Published last month, these studies carried out by teams of researchers at Stanford University would have demonstrated that human skin would have its own immune system semi-autonomous from the rest of the body, according to the British media.
This means that the skin would actively produce antibodies, a protein that neutralizes threats, such as foreign microbes or toxins, to defend the body from infections at their point of entry.
“We already knew that skin microbes could trigger [une partie] of the immune system […] Our discovery that skin microbes also provoke an antibody response will allow us to develop topical vaccines against diseases such as tetanus,” co-authors Professor Michael Fischbach and Dr Djenet Bousbaine told BBC Science Focus.
In other words, this discovery suggests that we could eventually administer vaccines directly to the skin, and not inject them under its surface as is currently the case, paving the way towards needle-free vaccines.
Currently, teams are already working on skin vaccines, but these would be “based on different principles”, since they involve for example “the use of microneedles in the form of ‘patches'”, indicated the two bioengineers at BBC.
“Our vaccine strategy is different because it exploits the intimate relationship established over millions of years of co-evolution between our skin microbes and our immune system,” they said.
They say vaccines could eventually be administered in cream form: an option that is generally less expensive and easy to apply since it does not require the services of a healthcare worker.
This discovery is, however, only in its early stages, while the researchers’ observations have only been made on mice for the moment, and there is still a way to go before these same results can be confirmed. on humans.
In the meantime, researchers are working on a vaccine for primates, which they hope to begin clinical trials in 2028, according to the BBC.
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