Tattoos may be tomorrow's vaccines

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - The tattoo of the future may be good for your health rather than just your image.

German scientists said on Thursday that work on mice showed that tattooing was a more effective way to deliver a new generation of experimental DNA vaccines than standard injections into muscle.

Using fragments of DNA to stimulate an immune response is seen as a promising way of making better vaccines for everything from flu to cancer. Until now, however, the concept 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," said Martin Mueller of the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg.

There are currently no approved DNA vaccines on the market but several drug companies are conducting clinical trials and investing in the technology.

Pfizer Inc, the world's biggest drugmaker, placed a sizeable bet on DNA vaccines in October 2006 when it bought British pioneer PowderMed.

Mueller and his colleagues tested tattooing by vaccinating mice with a protein fragment of human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. No ink was used, so the tattoo left no permanent mark.

They found three doses of DNA vaccine given by tattooing produced at least 16 times higher antibody levels than three intramuscular injections.