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Published: March 16, 2008, 8:21 pm

A new vaccine lowers blood pressure in hypertensive people, a study shows. The finding breaks ground in a field dominated by drug therapy. Surges in blood pressure make physical exertion possible, but chronically elevated pressure spells trouble. Scientists have entertained the idea of immunizing people against high blood pressure for decades, but it hasn’t been easy. The only other vaccine to reach the testing stage in people failed to reduce blood pressure. A vaccine may augment or offer an alternative to blood pressure medications, known to cause side effects. Several compounds orchestrate blood pressure changes, including a small protein called angiotensin. When cleaved by an enzyme, angiotensin signals blood vessels to constrict, increasing pressure. Researchers created the new vaccine by binding angiotensin to a harmless fragment of a virus. The protein “is then recognized by the immune system as a virus,” says study coauthor Martin Bachmann, an immunologist at

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