Stanford University scientists recently reported findings in a mouse study that could lead to a needle-free vaccination approach that eliminates reactions such as fever, swelling, and pain.
Published in the journal Nature on December 11, 2024, Fischbach and colleagues stated the ubiquitous skin colonist Staphylococcus epidermidis elicits a CD8+ T cell response pre-emptively in the absence of an infection.
They wrote that this colonist also induces a potent, durable, and specific antibody response that is conserved in humans and non-human primates.
These specialized proteins can stick to specific biochemical features of invading microbes, often preventing them from getting inside cells or traveling unmolested through the bloodstream to places they should not go.
The initial experiments included dipping a cotton swab into a vial containing S. epidermidis. Rub the swab gently on the head of a regular mouse — no need to shave, rinse, or wash its fur — and put the mouse back in its cage. Draw blood at defined time points over six weeks, asking: Has this mouse’s immune system produced antibodies that bind to S. epidermidis?
The mice’s antibody response to S. epidermidis was “a shocker,” Fischbach said.
“Those antibodies’ levels increased slowly, then some more — and then even more.” At six weeks, they’d reached a higher concentration than expected from a regular vaccination — and they stayed at those levels.
“It’s as if the mice had been vaccinated,” Fischbach said. Their antibody response was as strong and specific as if it had been reacting to a pathogen.
“The same thing appears to be occurring naturally in humans,” Fischbach said. “We got blood from human donors and found that their circulating levels of antibodies directed at S. epidermidis were as high as anything we get routinely vaccinated against.”
That’s puzzling, he said: “Our ferocious immune response to these commensal bacteria loitering on the far side of that all-important anti-microbial barrier we call our skin seems to have no purpose.”
“We think this will work for viruses, bacteria, fungi, and one-celled parasites,” he said. If things go well, he expects this vaccination approach to enter clinical trials within two or three years.
The completed, unedited Stanford news article written by Bruce Goldman is posted at this link.
