mRNA vaccine against tick bites could help prevent Lyme disease

An mRNA vaccine that causes a red, itchy tegument rash successful effect to bites by ticks whitethorn let them to beryllium removed earlier they transmit Lyme disease-causing bacteria

Health 17 November 2021

By Alice Klein

A blacklegged tick tin dispersed Lyme illness with its bite

Jim Gathany/CDC

An mRNA vaccine designed to make an immune effect to ticks truthful they tin beryllium removed earlier they transmit Lyme disease has been shown to beryllium effectual successful guinea pigs. It is hoped the uncovering volition pave the mode for objective trials successful people.

Lyme illness is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi that is transmitted done tick bites. If near untreated, it tin origin lifelong wellness problems similar Lyme arthritis and nervus pain.

Erol Fikrig astatine Yale University and his colleagues person developed a vaccine that trains the immune strategy to respond to tick bites, by exposing it to 19 proteins recovered successful tick saliva.

The vaccine contains mRNA molecules that instruct cells to marque these proteins, successful the aforesaid mode that mRNA covid-19 vaccines nonstop cells to marque coronavirus proteins.

Guinea pigs fixed the anti-tick vaccine developed red, itchy rashes erstwhile they were aboriginal bitten by ticks, suggesting their immune systems were responding. The ticks besides tended to detach aboriginal without sucking arsenic overmuch humor arsenic they usually would.

The researchers past placed ticks carrying Lyme disease-causing bacteria connected vaccinated and unvaccinated guinea pigs. The ticks were removed from the vaccinated animals erstwhile their tegument rashes emerged – usually successful the archetypal 18 hours – and nary became infected with the bacteria. In contrast, fractional the unvaccinated animals became infected.

If the vaccine works the aforesaid mode successful people, it volition alteration america to “readily observe a tick wound early, owed to redness astatine the wound site, and apt itching”, says Fikrig. This is important due to the fact that tick bites are often painless and spell unnoticed. The tick could past beryllium pulled disconnected earlier transmitting immoderate Lyme disease-causing bacteria, which usually takes astir 36 hours.

Even without this deliberate tick removal, the immune effect generated by the vaccine whitethorn promote the tick to autumn disconnected people earlier transmitting the harmful bacteria, says Fikrig.

The researchers volition present trial the vaccine successful different carnal models earlier opening trials successful people.

The anti-tick vaccine differs from other Lyme illness vaccines successful development, which people the bacteria liable alternatively than the tick carrier. Both approaches are promising, but 1 vantage of tick-targeted vaccines is that they whitethorn besides support against different tick-borne diseases similar anaplasmosis and babesiosis, says Petr Kopáček astatine the Institute of Parasitology successful the Czech Republic.

Fikrig hopes it volition beryllium imaginable to make a vaccine that simultaneously targets the harmful bacteria and the ticks. “A operation of the 2 approaches mightiness marque a vaccine that is much effectual than either 1 individually,” helium says.

Other researchers are investigating whether Lyme illness could beryllium eradicated successful the wild by leaving retired baits containing a chemic called hygromycin A that kills B. burgdorferi, but has small effect connected astir different bacteria and is harmless to animals.

Journal reference: Science Translational Medicine, DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abj9827

More connected these topics:

• infectious disease
• vaccine