Marco Pravetoni

Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacology

E-MAIL: [email protected]


Research Interests:

Dr. Pravetoni’s lab mainly focuses on development of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies for the treatment and prevention of heroin and prescription opioids abuse and fatal overdose. Other areas of interest are development of biologics against antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections, immunobiology of B and T cell lymphocytes underlying effective antibody responses, and novel strategies to improve vaccine efficacy against challenging unmet medical needs. Our multidisciplinary research program integrates rational vaccine design, monoclonal antibodies, immunomodulators, formulation/delivery platforms, pharmacology and pharmacokinetic pre-clinical models of disease, analysis of the vaccine-specific B and T cell repertoire, GLP/GMP studies to support FDA approval and clinical evaluation of new biologics, and industry collaborations.


Selected Publications:

(For a comprehensive list of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.)

  • Kassick AJ, Wu M, Luengas D, Ebqa'ai M, Tharika Nirmani LP, Tomycz N, Nelson TL, Pravetoni M, Raleigh MD, Averick S. Covalently loaded naloxone nanoparticles as a long-acting medical countermeasure to opioid poisoning. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci. 2021 Aug 26;4(5):1654-1664.
  • Crouse B, Zhang L, Robinson C, Ban Y, Vigliaturo JR, Roy S, Pravetoni M. Housing conditions and microbial environment do not affect the efficacy of vaccines for treatment of opioid use disorders in mice and rats. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2021 Aug 19:1-10.
  • Huseby Kelcher AM, Baehr CA, Hamid FA, Hart GT, Pravetoni M. Contribution of antibody-mediated effector functions to the mechanism of efficacy of vaccines for opioid use disorders. J Immunol. 2021 Aug 1;207(3):860-867.
  • Raleigh MD, King SJ, Baruffaldi F, Saykao A, Hamid FA, Winston S, LeSage MG, Pentel PR, Pravetoni M. Pharmacological mechanisms underlying the efficacy of antibodies generated by a vaccine to treat oxycodone use disorder. Neuropharmacology. 2021 Jun 11:108653.
  • Stone AE, Scheuermann SE, Haile CN, Cuny GD, Velasquez ML, Linhuber JP, Duddupudi AL, Vigliaturo JR, Pravetoni M, Kosten TA, Kosten TR, Norton EB. Fentanyl conjugate vaccine by injected or mucosal delivery with dmLT or LTA1 adjuvants implicates IgA in protection from drug challenge. NPJ Vaccines. 2021 May 13;6(1):69.
  • Robinson C, Gradinati V, Hamid F, Baehr C, Crouse B, Averick S, Kovaliov M, Harris D, Runyon S, Baruffaldi F, LeSage M, Comer S, Pravetoni M. Therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines to counteract fentanyl use disorders and toxicity. J Med Chem. 2020;63(23):14647-14667.
  • Raleigh MD, Accetturo C, Pravetoni M. Combining a candidate vaccine for opioid use disorders with extended-release naltrexone increases protection against oxycodone-induced behavioral effects and toxicity. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2020;374(3):392-403.
  • Crouse B, Robinson C, Huseby Kelcher A, Laudenbach M, Abrahante JE, Pravetoni M. Mechanisms of interleukin 4 mediated increase in efficacy of vaccines against opioid use disorders. NPJ Vaccines. 2020 Oct 21;5:99.
  • Baehr C, Kelcher AH, Khaimraj A, Reed DE, Pandit SG, AuCoin D, Averick S, Pravetoni M. Monoclonal antibodies counteract opioid-induced behavioral and toxic effects in mice and rats. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 2020;375(3):469-477.
  • Pravetoni M. Is the opioid use disorder epidemic impacting our immunological health? Brain Behav Immun. 2020 Jul;87:203-204.
  • Gradinati V, Baruffaldi F, Abbaraju S, Laudenbach M, Amin R, Gilger B, Velagaleti P, Pravetoni M. Polymer-mediated delivery of vaccines to treat opioid use disorders and to reduce opioid-induced toxicity. Vaccine. 2020;38(30):4704-4712.
  • Lefevre EM, Pisansky MT, Toddes C, Baruffaldi F, Pravetoni M, Tian L, Kono TJY, Rothwell PE. Interruption of continuous opioid exposure exacerbates drug-evoked adaptations in the mesolimbic dopamine system. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2020 Oct;45(11):1781-1792.
  • Mavrikaki M, Pravetoni M, Page S, Potter D, Chartoff E. Oxycodone self-administration in male and female rats. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2017;234(6):977-987
  • Raleigh MD, ​Peterson SJ, Laudenbach M, Baruffaldi F, Carroll FI, Comer SD, Navarro HA, Langston TL, Runyon SP, Winston S, Pravetoni M, Pentel PR. Safety and efficacy of an oxycodone vaccine: addressing some of the unique considerations posed by opioid abuse. PLoS One. 2017;12(12):e0184876.
  • Pravetoni M. Biologics to treat substance use disorders: current status and new directions. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2016;12(12):3005-3019.
  • Laudenbach M, Baruffaldi F, Vervacke JS, Distefano MD, Titcombe PJ, Mueller DL, Tubo NJ, Griffith TS, Pravetoni M. The frequency of naïve and early-activated hapten-specific B cell subsets dictates the efficacy of a therapeutic vaccine against prescription opioid abuse. J Immunol. 2015;194(12):5926-36.
  • Laudenbach M, Tucker AM, Runyon SP, Carroll FI, Pravetoni M. The frequency of early-activated hapten-specific B cell subsets predicts the efficacy of vaccines for nicotine dependence. Vaccine. 2015;33(46):6332-9.
  • Taylor JJ, Laudenbach M, Tucker AM, Jenkins MK, Pravetoni M. Hapten-specific naïve B cells are biomarkers of vaccine efficacy against drugs of abuse. J Immunol Methods. 2014;405:74-86.
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