ITALY: Scientists Grow Diabetes Drug in Tobacco Plants

Source from:  Tobacco Journal International 03/23/2009

19 Mar 2009. Scientists have created genetically modified tobacco plants that produce biological chemicals in their leaves that could one day be used to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Reuters reports that Italian researchers grew tobacco plants containing genes for interleukin-10, a "cytokine" immune system signalling molecule. Ultimately the scientists hope to use the plants in combination with other biologically active chemicals to combat insulin-dependent, or Type 1, diabetes. A number of agrochemical companies, including Bayer and Syngenta, have been looking at ways to make complex protein drugs in plants, although progress has been slow. At the moment, antibody medicines and vaccines are produced in cell cultures inside stainless steel fermenters. However, Mario Pezzotti of the University of Verona, who led the tobacco study published in the journal BMC Biotechnology, believes they could be grown more efficiently in fields, since plants are the world's most cost-effective protein producers. Several different plants have been studied by research groups around the world, but tobacco is a firm favourite. The move marks the latest advance in the emerging field of molecular farming, which may offer a cheaper way of making biotech drugs and vaccines than traditional factory systems. Enditem