Depression, obesity next says NZ vaccine pioneer

By CATHERINE MASTERS

A New Zealander at the cutting edge of research into serious and medically baffling diseases has two more afflictions in his sights.

Neuroscientist Professor Matthew During, who this week stunned the world with his revolutionary work on a stroke and epilepsy vaccine, is also developing vaccines for depression and obesity.

At the forefront of gene therapy, his medical breakthroughs offer hope to thousands worldwide.

Details of the depression and obesity vaccines are secret, but Professor Matthew During, who divides his time between Auckland Medical School and the neurosurgery department of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, said they stemmed from research into the stroke/epilepsy vaccine, details of which were reported in yesterday's Herald.

A controversial figure after he pioneered gene therapy for the fatal brain disorder Canavan disease in 1996 - which involved implanting synthetic genes into the brains of two girl sufferers - Dr During has not strayed from the fight against some of the world's worst diseases.

Two years ago he used gene-therapy treatment to cure lactose intolerance in rats, a breakthrough that cleared the way for future development of drugs for the likes of haemophilia, intestinal cancer and cystic fibrosis.

An article on his vaccine for strokes is due to appear this weekend in Science journal after a rigorous peer review process.

Details of the depression/obesity vaccines are destined for future issues, if papers are accepted.

Depression and obesity are predicted to be among New Zealand's - and the Western World's - most significant health problems of the century.

Professor During says the stroke/epilepsy vaccine is revolutionary because it went against current mind/body beliefs about the cause of disease.

That dogma says the mind, or brain, influences the immune system. This vaccine shows that the immune system can influence the brain.

The mind/body connection is about the way people think about disease and how our stress state has an impact on the immune system, affecting our predisposition for disease, says Professor During.

That was not wrong: "I think the mind body connection works - but it works in both directions.

"Previously, people just thought about it as uni-directional, that somehow the brain works the immune system.

"What we're saying is, no, the immune system talks to the brain and that here you can actually harness the power of the immune system and use the immune system almost as a scalpel to start tackling proteins, or targets within the brain, that otherwise it would be impossible to treat with drugs."

The biggest problem in developing drugs to combat brain trauma is that they cross what is called the blood-brain barrier, causing havoc.

"We could cure epilepsy tomorrow by using high doses of epileptic drugs, high doses of valium.

"The problem is that you'd cure the epilepsy but patients would be in a coma. The problem is curing the patient without killing the patient, or putting them to sleep."

The antibody in the vaccine worked dramatically by being able to target proteins which caused the death of brain cells at the injury site and stopping the injury in its tracks.

If intensive trials showed the vaccine worked on humans there were implications for the treatment of all nervous system disorders.

The goal is to test it on humans - instead of rats which have been used so far and hopefully bypassing the need to use monkeys - within the next two years, but it would still be 10 years before safety aspects had been fully addressed.

An "intriguing" aspect of the rat trials - and the topic of a follow-up paper - is that the animals were not only fine, but appeared brighter, Professor During says.

The antibodies tended to switch on some genes involved in learning and memory. "That was a nice, unexpected bonus."

He hopes human trials could be held in New Zealand but, as always, money was a problem.

The research had so far cost around $500,000, but human trials would require several million dollars, paid for by this country's Health Research Council and Thomas Jefferson University.

"If we had been dependent on just local funding agencies the scale of this research wouldn't be done ... It's disheartening.

"I'm considered one of the best-funded labs in New Zealand, but I can tell you that on a US scale it's a joke."

Professor During says he has fielded calls from media around the globe on the vaccine, including most American television networks, the BBC and the Discovery Channel.

An Auckland medical school graduate, Professor During has worked at the Harvard Medical School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale.