TITLE:
Engineering Plants as Platforms for Production of Vaccines
AUTHORS:
Sujatha Thankeswaran Parvathy
KEYWORDS:
Plant Vaccines, Biopharmaceuticals, Molecular Farming, Bioreactors, Regulations
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.11 No.5,
May
22,
2020
ABSTRACT:
Microbial pathogens have
always posed serious threats and challenges to human existence. Pathogenic
microbes causing epidemic and pandemic outbreaks have the potential of effacing
life on earth. Vaccines are used as prophylactic as well as treatment measures
against diseases and are effective in eradicating deadly pathogens.
Conventional vaccines though effective, have high production costs, involve
tedious purification processes and have biosafety issues, requiring
time-consuming biosafety tests for commercial production. Plant-based vaccines
offer several advantages over the conventional systems such as ease of
production, storage, higher yields, stability and safety. The review discusses
significance, advantages, comparisons, prospects and challenges or constraints
in the production of plant-based vaccines and antibodies.