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"Pharmed" Vaccine Passes Early Test
from the Scientist (Registration Required)
A team of researchers has completed human tests of the first plant-produced vaccine for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The successful results of a phase I clinical trial suggest that plants could provide a safe, inexpensive reservoir to "grow" vaccines for the common human cancer, according to a study published ... in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The trial "builds upon all the advances in immunology that have come out in the last half-dozen years," said Charles Arntzen, co-director of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at Arizona State University and editor of the paper. The vaccine has a "real opportunity for commercial success," he said.
Follicular B-cell lymphoma is a cancer of malignant B-cells in the immune system affecting more than 16,000 people each year. "Every tumor starts from one cell," said Ronald Levy, a Stanford University oncologist and senior author on the paper. That cell, a malignant B-cell, has a unique immunoglobulin (Ig) molecule on its surface which is cloned into each new tumor cell. The cell-surface Ig provides an ideal target for therapies, but the difficulty in designing a vaccine, noted Levy, is that every tumor is different, so the therapy must be personalized for each individual.
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