(1) Plantibodies confers passive immunity in an individual and can be used in the form of vaccines.
The advances like plantibodies owing to their advantages are considered as breakthrough in techniques of molecular biology and may offer potential benefits for other fields like medicine in near future.
Plantibodies against the plague bacterium and botulism are also in development.
Whaley and Hein are now working to make corn produce the antiherpes
plantibodies, as well as antibodies that prevent sperm from reaching an egg.
This is the fourth United States patent granted for
Plantibodies technology developed by Epicyte scientists; the company has rights to corresponding granted patents in Japan, Europe and Australia.
Like the antibodies of an animal's immune system, the plant-made antibodies, which the scientists call "plantibodies," strongly and selectively bind to only one or a few types of molecules.
To further the cancer-fighting prospects of plantibodies, the researchers now are working with a Scripps immunologist in an attempt to put genes for human-tumor-attacking antibodies into plant cells.