Immune to addiction: how immunotherapies can be used to combat methamphetamine addiction

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The concept of anti-methamphetamine (METH) immunotherapies is a few decades old. A substantial amount of information has been generated on the development of anti-METH immunotherapies, particularly in the preclinical stages of development of vaccines and monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatments. However, the concept of treating METH use addiction with anti-METH immunotherapies is not well understood by many researchers or general readers. A series of questions commonly arise regarding the concept: how does it work? What is the antigen used? How exactly does the vaccine prevent METH addiction?

Areas covered: This paper reviews the published articles relating to the mechanisms of METH use disorders, strategies used in the development of anti-METH immunotherapies, and the mechanism of action of these treatments. It provides clear explanations to questions surrounding the basis of anti-METH immunotherapies and contextualizes their development. It also identifies areas for future investigation to speed their translation into clinical use.

Expert opinion: While METH immunotherapies, including vaccines and mAbs, have progressed significantly in the last 30 years, there are newer approaches that should be evaluated to improve their translatability. Approaches including nanoparticle vaccines, virus-like particles, and other novel methods should be fully evaluated as means of generating anti-METH immunity.

KEYWORDS:

• Addiction
• anti-meth vaccines
• immunotherapies
• methamphetamine
• monoclonal antibodies
• METH
• ice

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Immunology and Translational Research Group for their significant contribution. The Mechanisms and Interventions in Health and Disease Program within the Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria University Australia are also appreciated for their support. M.H is supported by Graeme and Angelina Wise, and Md. K.H was supported by the Victoria University Postgraduate Scholarship and the Vice–Chancellors top-up Scholarship Award. J.F. is supported by a University of Melbourne postgraduate scholarship through the Australian Government Research Training Program.

Article highlights

• Vaccination strategies against methamphetamine addiction are poorly understood by researchers and clinicians alike.

• Methamphetamine immunotherapies have been developed and shown effective in pre-clinical studies, for both active and passive immunization approaches.

• A number of modern vaccination platforms are yet to be evaluated foran use in methamphetamine immunotherapies, such as nano-vaccine, virus-like particles, and catalytic antibodies.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no 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. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.