Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, infected with Ebola, are being treated at Emory University hospital with an experimental cocktail of antibodies which target the deadly virus. But these antibodies are not just any antibodies; they were synthesized and harvested from tobacco plants that scientists genetically engineered to produce antibodies against Ebola.
A team of scientists have worked for around twenty years on uses
of plant-based therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of
disease. In August of 2013, U.S. Patent No. 8,513,397 ("Mason, et
al.") entitled, DNA
replicon system for high-level rapid production of vaccines and
monoclonal antibody therapeutics in plants, issued on the
technology which was initially filed as a patent application in
2008. The potentially life-saving treatment remains in the
experimental stages. However, the novel antibody treatment
got a boost last week when Branty and Writebol became infected with
Ebola. The dire conditions of Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy
Writebol led to the use of the still experimental patented
technology.
While the treatment remains experimental and more testing is
required before the cocktail of antibodies will be approved for
treatment of Ebola, the tragedy of the outbreak and Brantly and
Writebol becoming infected themselves has fast-tracked this
treatment for Ebola and may result in similar antibody therapies to
treat other infection diseases.
Sources:
Ebola Vaccine Antibodies Are Made in Tobacco Plants
Ebola vaccine pioneer joked about use of genetically engineered virus to cull human population
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