Current status and future prospects for the development of substance abuse vaccines

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Substance use disorders (SUD) are a significant threat to both individual and public health. To date, SUD pharmacotherapy has focused primarily on agonist medications (i.e. nicotine replacement therapy for tobacco use disorder; methadone and buprenorphine for opioid use disorder), antagonist medications (i.e. naltrexone for opioid use disorder), and aversive therapy (i.e. disulfiram for alcohol use disorder). Pharmacotherapeutic approaches utilizing an immunological framework for medication development represent an important focus of study for treatment of these illnesses.

Areas covered: This review discusses vaccines for treatment of substance use disorders. Using PubMed (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/), we searched both preclinical and human clinical trials of vaccines for treatment of nicotine, cocaine, methamphetamine, and opioid use disorders. In addition, we searched for recently developed strategies for enhancement of the immunologic response through alteration of conjugate molecules and adjuvants.

Expert commentary: Despite challenges in human clinical trials of SUD vaccines, a number of strategies have been introduced which may ultimately improve efficacy. These challenges, as well as their implications for vaccine development, are discussed. Additionally, the optimal conditions for research study and treatment are considered.

KEYWORDS:

• Substance use disorder
• nicotine
• cocaine
• methamphetamine
• opioid
• vaccine

Disclosures

D Shorter received support from a Career Development Award #1IK2 CX000946 from the United States (U.S.) Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Sciences Research and Development Service. TR Kosten received support from DOD Grant #W81-XWH-15-2-007, USAMRAA, Department of Defense, DoD Alcohol and Substance Abuse Consortium Award. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

The manusctipt was not funded.