Investigating the effects of a hydrolytically stable hapten and a Th1 adjuvant on heroin vaccine performance.

We challenged the performance of our previous heroin vaccine with a similar vaccine containing a more hydrolytically stable hapten analogue and a Th1 adjuvant (CpG ODN). Our results indicate that the elements of our previous vaccine are essential for its anti-heroin potency, i.e., a chemically labile hapten and an exclusively Th2 humoral response elicited by alum. Such design elements are critical for producing next-generation heroin vaccines.