Mar 28 2008
Brand new tattoo vaccines
Mar 28: Tattoos are no longer a mere fashion statement it is gaining medical significance. In what could be considered as significant research German scientists have found that compared with intramuscular injection tattoos are more effective in delivering DNA vaccines.
The research team was led by Martin Mueller of German Cancer Research Centre based in Heidelberg. The findings of the research were published in the online journal named Genetic Vaccines and Therapy. As part of the research a coat protein from human papilloma virus (HPV), the main source of cervical cancer is used as the model DNA vaccine antigen.
The researchers then tattooed the skin of the mice using the standard intramuscular injection with and without molecular adjuvant, which is mainly used to enhance immune response. Tattoo method gave a strong antibody and cellular response than intramuscular injection even when it was tested using adjuvant at later stage.
