Patients taking opioids produce antibodies that may hinder anti-opioid vaccine

From the August 17, 2020 news release at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

“University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists have discovered that a majority of people they tested who were taking opioid painkillers for chronic back pain produced antibodies against the drugs that may contribute to some of the negative side effects of long-term opioid use.”
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…”For decades, researchers have understood that the immune system can produce antibodies against psychoactive drugs under the right conditions. While the chemicals themselves are too small for the immune system to recognize, they can permanently bind to large proteins in the blood, which can then trigger an immune response.”…

Read the entire article here

…”If a vaccine can produce antibodies capable of neutralizing the drugs, it could help people combat addiction by reducing the pleasurable feelings the drugs produce in the brain. Past trials of vaccines against nicotine or cocaine have had limited success, in part because of individual differences in how the immune system produces antibodies.”…

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Related article & 3 minute video
Negative side effects of opioids could be coming from users’ own immune systems (video) (American Chemical Society, August 17, 2020)

This video, in 3 minutes, summarizes the University of Madison-Wisconsin article