Edible Vaccines
Transgenic plants for the production of edible vaccines and antibodies for immunotherapy
Vaccines and antibodies play a key role in healthcare. However, the cost of production and maintaining a chain for vaccine distribution has so far hampered realizing their full potential. Expression of antigens as vaccines, and of antibodies against antigens of pathogens in transgenic plants is a convenient and inexpensive source for these immunotherapeutic molecules. Various antigens and antibodies have already been expressed successfully in plants and have been shown to retain their native functional forms. Edible plant vaccine against diarrhoea, expressed in potato, and antibody against dental caries, expressed in tobacco, is already in pre-clinical human trials. Attempts are being made to express many proteins of immunotherapeutic use at high levels in plants and to use them as bio-reactors of the modern era.
MOST of the drugs used by man, until very recently, were being derived from plants, which subsequently led to pharmaceutical companies starting chemical synthesis of the medicinal compounds. Recent progress in the area of transgenic plants has, however, once again attracted attention of the scientists, and plants are being looked upon as potential bio-reactors or bio-factories for the production of immunotherapeutic molecules. Transgenic material, in the form of seed or fruit, can be easily stored and transported from one place to another without fear of its degradation or damage. Furthermore, a large amount of bio-mass can be easily produced by cultivation in fields with relatively few inputs. In addition, transgenic plants capable of producing several different products can be created at any given time by crossing plants producing different products.
It was therefore not surprising when in 1989 Hiatt and co-workers1, attempted to produce antibodies in plants which could serve the purpose of passive immunization. Though the first report on production of edible
Vaccines and antibodies play a key role in healthcare. However, the cost of production and maintaining a chain for vaccine distribution has so far hampered realizing their full potential. Expression of antigens as vaccines, and of antibodies against antigens of pathogens in transgenic plants is a convenient and inexpensive source for these immunotherapeutic molecules. Various antigens and antibodies have already been expressed successfully in plants and have been shown to retain their native functional forms. Edible plant vaccine against diarrhoea, expressed in potato, and antibody against dental caries, expressed in tobacco, is already in pre-clinical human trials. Attempts are being made to express many proteins of immunotherapeutic use at high levels in plants and to use them as bio-reactors of the modern era.
MOST of the drugs used by man, until very recently, were being derived from plants, which subsequently led to pharmaceutical companies starting chemical synthesis of the medicinal compounds. Recent progress in the area of transgenic plants has, however, once again attracted attention of the scientists, and plants are being looked upon as potential bio-reactors or bio-factories for the production of immunotherapeutic molecules. Transgenic material, in the form of seed or fruit, can be easily stored and transported from one place to another without fear of its degradation or damage. Furthermore, a large amount of bio-mass can be easily produced by cultivation in fields with relatively few inputs. In addition, transgenic plants capable of producing several different products can be created at any given time by crossing plants producing different products.
It was therefore not surprising when in 1989 Hiatt and co-workers1, attempted to produce antibodies in plants which could serve the purpose of passive immunization. Though the first report on production of edible