Two doses of Qβ virus like particle vaccines elicit protective antibodies against heroin and fentanyl.

ABSTRACT: Opioid overdoses and opioid use disorder (OUD) are major public health concerns. Current treatment approaches for OUD have failed to slow the growth of the opioid crisis. Opioid vaccines have shown pre-clinical success in targeting multiple different opioid drugs. However, the need for many immunizations can limit their clinical implementation. In this study, we investigate the development of novel opioid vaccines by independently targeting fentanyl and the active metabolites of heroin using a bacteriophage virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine platform. We establish the successful conjugation of haptens to bacteriophage Qβ VLPs and demonstrate immunogenicity of Qβ-fentanyl, Qβ-morphine, and Qβ-6-acetylmorphine in animal models after one or two immunizations. We show that these vaccines elicit

SUBMITTER: Romano IG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11950649 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature