Biotech Updates

Transgenic Tobacco as Oral Treatment for Adjuvant-induced Arthritis

March 11, 2011

Pharmaceutical companies have seen the potential of transgenic plants in producing recombinant proteins with important applications in therapeutics. César Rodríguez-Narciso from Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo and colleagues discovered that mycobacterial HSP65 protein expressed in tobacco plants serves as an effective treatment for adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA). They cloned the gene coding for the said protein from leprosy-causing bacterium (Mycobacterium leprae) and transformed the tobacco plants using Agrobacterium tumifaciens. Rats with AIA that were orally treated with the HSP65 protein recovered body weight and reduced joint inflammation. Results of this study suggest that there is a link between the HSP65 protein and tobacco plant metabolites.

For more details, visit http://www.springerlink.com/content/27p3100980395118/.