Plant-based vaccines against viruses

Abstract

Plant-made or “biofarmed” viral vaccines are some of the earliest products of the technology of plant molecular farming, and remain some of the brightest prospects for the success of this field. Proofs of principle and of efficacy exist for many candidate viral veterinary vaccines; the use of plant-made viral antigens and of monoclonal antibodies for therapy of animal and even human viral disease is also well established. This review explores some of the more prominent recent advances in the biofarming of viral vaccines and therapies, including the recent use of ZMapp for Ebolavirus infection, and explores some possible future applications of the technology.

Transient Expression of an Immunogenic Envelope Attachment Glycoprotein of Nipah Virus in Nicotiana benthamiana

“…Plant systems are favoured as they are considered safe, low-cost, rapid to upscale and less vulnerable to contamination with human or animal pathogens compared with traditional inactivated vaccines and animal or microbial cell culture-based vaccines (reviewed in Rybicki 2014). N. benthamiana was chosen for this study because of its status as a well-established expression host, its high biomass yields and its rapid scalability.…”

Broadly neutralizing antibodies for therapy of viral infections

“…A drawback of high specificity of antibody drugs is that hypermutation of the viral antigens can result in loss of antibody binding and viral escape. One solution is to use a cocktail of mAbs against the same target antigen, a perfect example of this is the ZMapp product 85,86 used against Ebola infection -as already discussed in "NAbs for Ebola virus" section. The recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa has resulted in renewed interest in passive antibody therapy as a potential option, although there is need for more data and especially largescale clinical trials.…”

“…The recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa has resulted in renewed interest in passive antibody therapy as a potential option, although there is need for more data and especially largescale clinical trials. 86 Another critical limitation of passive antibody therapy is the time of administration. The therapy works best as a prophylactic measure, ie, administered at very early stages of infection.…”

Expression of Multiple Taenia Solium Immunogens in Plant Cells Through a Ribosomal Skip Mechanism

“…S3Pvac-papaya induces high protection levels against T. crassiceps and T. pisiformis cysticercosis when parenterally or orally administered [20,21]. While this vaccine has proved efficacious, further improvements are envisioned in light of the molecular tools of plant biotechnology currently available [16,22,23]. For example, a simultaneous expression of the vaccine components at higher levels would allow easier formulation and dosage processes.…”