A Victoria University of Wellington scientist hopes to bring us a major step closer to a vaccine for drug addiction,
with the help of an Explorer Grant from the Health Research Council of New Zealand.
Scientists have been trying to create vaccines for treating drug addiction since the 1970s, but so far trials in humans
have had disappointing results, says Dr Benjamin Compton. He believes the lack of efficacy comes down to vaccine design,
not the concept itself.
With a background in chemistry and experience in developing immunotherapy treatments for cancer, asthma, influenza and
malaria, Dr Compton will construct a synthetic vaccine that works in a completely different way to others trialled in
this field.
Working with immunologist Dr Lisa Connor, Dr Compton is pioneering a vaccine platform that can generate an immune
response to small drug-like compounds. His concept is to circumvent the need for protein-based activation of the immune
system to drive this response.
The end-goal is to instruct the body’s immune system to recognise a specific drug when it enters the bloodstream, and to
treat it like a toxin: that means antibodies would bind to the targeted drug in the periphery and prevent it from
crossing the blood-brain barrier where it would normally interact with receptors and trigger ‘a high’.
“Achieving this would herald a new paradigm in immunopharmacotherapy,” says Dr Compton. “And importantly, we’re aiming
to design a vaccine that can be manufactured en masse, at low cost.”
The HRC’s chief executive, Professor Kath McPherson, says this research addresses a major issue of concern for
individual and public health. “Drug addiction is a serious problem worldwide, which not only results in personal harm,
death and reduced quality of life, but also costs our health system hugely in hospital admissions and emergency
attendances, treatment and counselling.
“A vaccine could well be the way of the future. If Dr Compton can deliver proof of concept, it could be a
ground-breaking step towards developing a vaccine in the future.”
Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective and powerful health interventions available, notes Dr Compton, and he
believes it should be possible to vaccinate against drug addiction.
“Ultimately what we’re trying to do is generate a robust B-cell response (an antibody response) to specific drug
targets.”
Traditionally this is done by first generating a T-cell response (those white cells that defend us against infection and
disease) which in turn enhances the B-cell response. However, due to the complexity of the human body, generating the
desired T-cell response can be tricky. Cellular processing and presentation of proteins varies from person to person
which, in part, may be responsible for past failures to develop vaccines for drugs of abuse.
Dr Compton’s novel vaccine construct should improve the T-cell response or, even better, directly activate B-cells
independent of a T-cell response. But even if his vaccine can activate B-cells directly, that in itself may not be
enough; the key to making this kind of vaccine effective is to ensure it also drives a memory response to the drug.
“We are trying to understand the simplest way to activate B cells so that we can invoke a memory response to compounds
which would otherwise not be recognised by the immune system. How can we make this technology a reality?” Dr Compton
will be testing his vaccine on mice, and if he can prove that the concept works, it could be a game-changer.
“This technology will be really helpful for those addicts who want to break free of their addiction. Should that person
come into contact with the drug, a vaccine will ensure there is no reward from the drug-taking behaviour.”
Dr Compton was one of 15 researchers to receive a Health Research Council 2019 Explorer Grant, valued at $150,000 each.
The Explorer Grant scheme seeks to attract and fund transformative research ideas with the potential for major impact on
healthcare.
See below for the full list of 2019 Explorer Grant recipients, and to read lay summaries go to http://www.hrc.govt.nz/funding-opportunities/recipients and filter for ‘Researcher Initiated Proposals’, ‘Explorer Grants’ and ‘2019’.
2019 Explorer Grants – full list
Professor David Ackerley, Victoria University of Wellington
Enabling NZ biomedical research with superior targeted cell ablation models
24 months, $150,000
Dr Sean Coffey, University of Otago, Dunedin
Next generation cardiac ultrasound: training echocardiography using MRI
24 months, $150,000
Dr Benjamin Compton, Victoria University of Wellington
Investigating iNKT cell-based vaccinology to treat drug addiction
24 months, $150,000
Dr Xiaolin Cui, University of Otago, Christchurch
Synthetic stem cells – a new area for myocardial infarction treatment
24 months, $150,000
Professor Parry Guilford, University of Otago, Dunedin
A novel device for early cancer detection
24 months, $150,000
Dr Tracy Hale, Massey University, Palmerston North
Transforming the paradigm of functional genome organisation
24 months, $150,000
Dr Wanting Jiao, Victoria University of Wellington
Developing computational tools to design highly potent antibiotics
24 months, $150,000
Dr Bartosz Nowak, University of Canterbury
Identification and monitoring of lymphoedema
18 months, $150,000
Associate Professor Gregory O'Grady, The University of Auckland
The ‘surgical canary’: A rapid detector of anastomotic leaks
12 months, $150,000
Associate Professor Justin O'Sullivan, The University of Auckland
Asthma – a test case for precision
24 months, $150,000
Associate Professor Anthony Phillips, The University of Auckland
Rebalancing fluid distribution in critical illness
24 months, $150,000
Dr Anna Ponnampalam, The University of Auckland
Development of a non-invasive diagnostic test for endometriosis
24 months, $150,000
Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar, The University of Auckland
“Missing women” in New Zealand: Exploring gender bias in migrant communities
24 months, $150,000
Dr Natasha Tassell-Matamua, Massey University, Palmerston North
Interpretation of anomalous experiences: Implications for wāhine Māori
24 months, $150,000
Dr Kenneth Tran, The University of Auckland
Does energy deficiency compromise myofilament contractility in diabetes?
24 months, $150,000