Tobacco Plants Yield the First Vaccine for Dreaded "Cruise Ship Virus"

With the recent outbreak of H1N1 influenza virus, scientists and the public are again reminded of how fast a virus can mutate into new and dangerous forms. However, vaccine discovery and production is not that fast and is still a costly process. Charles Arntzen of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology in Arizona State University explored the use of engineered plant viruses to speed-up and scale-up vaccine manufacturing to specifically combat norovirus or the "cruise sheep virus". "This viral disease is very infectious closing down hospitals, day care centers and homes of the elderly and can disrupt normal daily life, work schedules, businesses and commerce," said Arntzen.

The research team re-engineered high levels specially designed "virus-like" nanoparticles in tobacco plants at about 25 nanometers in diameter, the same size as the norovirus. The particles consist only of the outer surface protein original virus — the portion of the virus recognized by the human immune system, and none of the infectious materials.

Arntzen disclosed in the 238^th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society that the vaccine could be administered as a booster every 12 to 18 months to combat new strains of the norovirus. Arntzen notes that plant biotechnology could create cheaper, quicker vaccine manufacturing technique uniquely suited to combat mutating viruses like norovirus and the flu.

For details, see the press release at: http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=222&content_id=CNBP_022762&use_sec=true&sec
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