Producing Diarrhea and Cholera Vaccines in GM Carrots

Cholera and diarrhea caused by the enterotoxigenic bacteria E. coli  are worldwide health problems that might be prevented with edible plant-based vaccines expressing the B subunit from either the cholera toxin (CTB) or the E. coli heat labile toxin (LTB). By inserting a gene from E. coli that codes for the B subunit, researchers obtained transgenic carrot lines that induces antitoxin, systemic and intestinal immunity in mice against both the cholera and E. coli toxins. Plants such as carrots which are eaten raw could be developed to contain plant based vaccines than those that have to be cooked because of possible reduction in immunogenicity level due to protein denaturation. The serum and intestinal reaction elicited by the vaccine in mice is comparable to that of the pure bacterial recombinant LTB. Further studies are now being made for the use of the vaccine in humans.

The complete paper published by the journal Plant Cell Reports can be accessed by subscribers at http://www.springerlink.com/content/0518372ww12528p5/fulltext.pdf Non subscribers can read the abstract at http://www.springerlink.com/content/0518372ww12528p5/?p=62418a182ca5404f8c0af9eddb914b12&pi=0