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ShareWASHINGTON: Those cool and stylish tattoos may be a substitute for conventional injections rather than being just a fashion statement.
Researchers from Germany have shown that tattooing is a more effective way of delivering DNA vaccines than intramuscular injection, the Science Daily reported.
They believe tattooing promises better vaccines for everything from flu to cancer. However, the concept has been hampered by its low efficiency.
''Vaccination with naked DNA has been hampered by its low efficiency, delivery of DNA via tattooing could be a way for a more widespread commercial application of DNA vaccines'' says lead researcher Martin Müller from the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg.
Using a coat protein from the human papillomavirus (HPV, the cause of cervical cancer) as a model DNA vaccine antigen, they compared delivery by tattooing the skin of mice with standard intramuscular injection with, and without, the molecular adjuvants that are often given to boost immune response.
It was found that the tattoo method gave a stronger humoral (antibody) response and cellular response than intramuscular injection, even when adjuvants were included in the latter. Three doses of DNA vaccine given by tattooing produced at least 16 times higher antibody levels than three intramuscular injections with adjuvant. The adjuvants enhanced the effect of intramuscular injection, but not of tattooing.
Tattooing is an invasive procedure done with a solid vibrating needle, causing a wound and sufficient inflammation to 'prime' the immune system. It also covers a bigger area of the skin than an injection, so the DNA vaccine can enter more cells. These effects may account for the stronger immune response arising from introducing a DNA vaccine into the body by tattooing.
Findings of the research are published in the online open access journal, Genetic Vaccines and Therapy.
