Tobacco plants may be used to make specific cancer vaccines for people who suffer from chronic type of lymphoma. Thus the results of a study published in China on Monday (21 / 7) yesterday.
The drug, which will develop the patient's immune reaction to fight the tumor cells themselves, made using a new approach that turns genetically engineered tobacco plants into vaccine plant specific. Lymphoma is a type of cancer involving cells of the immune system.
"This is for the first time a plant has been used to produce proteins to be injected to humans," said Dr. Ron Levy of Stanford University School of Medicina in California, whose research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It would be a way to cure cancer without impact," said Levy.
The drug, which will develop the patient's immune reaction to fight the tumor cells themselves, made using a new approach that turns genetically engineered tobacco plants into vaccine plant specific. Lymphoma is a type of cancer involving cells of the immune system.
"This is for the first time a plant has been used to produce proteins to be injected to humans," said Dr. Ron Levy of Stanford University School of Medicina in California, whose research was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "It would be a way to cure cancer without impact," said Levy.
Levy's team tested the vaccine on 16 patients recently diagnosed with follicular B-cell lymphoma, which is a chronic disease that can not be treated.
According to the study, no patient experienced a significant impact and more than 70 percent of patients develop an immune reaction. Although they have not determined whether the immune response is sufficient to destroy the cancer, the researchers hope the technique could someday lead to treatments at some kind of deadly disease.
"Each patient's lymphoma tumor cells have the target on them, but each patient's tumor has a different version of the target," Levy said in an interview.
Studies done by researchers with scratch tobacco leaves are wrapped with a virus gene to infect plants. Further, it leaves an anti-body produces proteins that are also seen in tumor patients. The leaves were plucked and pounded a few days later a green powder. From the leaves, the anti-body was taken and clarified. "The material is then injected back into the patient," Levy said.
"This technology is special because it is fast and very suitable for certain that this particular approach because each plant can make brackish (vaccine) a different man," said Levy told AFP. This is the first cancer vaccine from plants have been tested in humans.
Vaccines derived from plants have a number of advantages. The vaccine can be developed much faster and much cheaper. The vaccine does not contain the risk of infection if contaminated with animal cells. And the antibodies produced may also generate a stronger immune response than those developed in animal cells.
