Inner Workings: Using vaccines to harness the immune system and fight drugs of abuse

Leah Shaffer; PNAS December 28, 2021 118 (52) e2121094118

Figure: One way to address opioid addiction is by using antibodies to destroy opioid molecules before they ever reach brain receptors, such as the mu-opioid receptor illustrated here. Image credit: Science Source/NANOCLUSTERING.

Opioids continue to ravage large swaths of the United States. Buffeted by social isolation, financial pressures, and limited mental health resources during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, addiction and its ill effects have only worsened in the past year. More than 100,000 people died from drug overdose between April 2020 and the end of April 2021, a roughly 30% increase in deaths compared with the previous year and an all-time high for the number of overdose deaths recorded in the United States. About three-quarters of those deaths resulted from synthetic opioid abuse.

And yet, few medical treatments are available for those experiencing opioid and other severe substance abuse disorders. Individuals addicted to opioids can wean off these drugs using methadone or buprenorphine, which offer opioid replacement—a safer variation of the drug that doesn’t cause a high or lead to an overdose. And naltrexone, an opioid antagonist, blocks the opioid receptors. But these treatments have drawbacks and are not effective for everyone, especially long-term.

See: https://www.pnas.org/content/118/52/e2121094118