December 7, 1998 Deborah Pettibone (716) 845-8593 [email protected]
MULTINATIONAL PROJECT TO DEVELOP EDIBLE PLANT VACCINE
BUFFALO, NY - Dr. Yasmin Thanavala, Department of Immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, (RPCI) and Axis Genetics plc., Cambridge, United Kingdom, will collaborate to advance the first edible plant vaccine to protect against hepatitis B virus infection.
The four-year project will evaluate the immune response in animals to edible plant vaccine potatoes engineered to contain hepatitis B antigens. This builds on research conducted jointly by RPCI and the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) of Ithaca, New York, demonstrating that potatoes expressing the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), plus adjuvant, fed to mice elicited a specific immune response. The mice exhibited HBsAg specific antibodies in serum and HBsAg specific IgA antibodies in mucosal secretions.
In June 1998, Axis Genetics licensed edible plant vaccine technology from BTI and currently holds an option to exclusively license certain technology from RPCI in the field of hepatitis B edible plant vaccines.
It has also been reported that Axis Genetics has commissioned American Ag-Tec International, Ltd., to manufacture hepatitis B edible plant vaccine potatoes for on-going research and in preparation for clinical trials due to begin in 1999.
One person in twenty worldwide is a carrier of the hepatitis B virus, a leading cause of liver cancer. Traditional vaccines have made minimal impact on the incidence of hepatitis B in third-world countries. Plant technology breaks the cold storage chain that impeded vaccine delivery in remote areas of the world as well as offering an easier method for vaccinating the very young.
Roswell Park Cancer Institute, founded in 1898, is the nation's first and one of its largest cancer research, treatment and education centers, and is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Western New York.
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