Stroke Stopper: New vaccine curbs blood vessel damage in lab animals
By Nathan Seppa
Scientists have developed an unusual vaccine that prevents some strokes in laboratory rats. The treatment works by desensitizing the animals’ immune system to a protein residing within their blood vessels.
When displayed on a blood vessel’s lining, the protein, called E-Selectin, facilitates the binding of white blood cells to the vessel wall and elicits an inflammatory reaction that can lead to a stroke. By continually exposing rats to human E-Selectin using a nasal spray, researchers short-circuited that inflammatory process.