Tobacco plant - a potent carcinogenic agent - may actually offer the means to treat a certain form of cancer. Researchers at Stanford University in California are using the plants as factories for an antibody chemical specific to the cells which cause follicular B-cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.These antibodies are put into a patient newly-diagnosed with the disease, to "prime" the body's immune system to attack any cell carrying them.If successful, this would mean the body would then recognise and destroy the lymphoma - immune-system malignancy- cells."It's pretty cool technology - and it's really ironic that you would make a treatment for cancer out of tobacco. That appealed to me," Dr Ronald Levy the lead researcher of the study was quoted as saying by the BBC.The technique is relatively straightforward. Once a patient's cancer cells are isolated in the laboratory, the gene responsible for producing the antibody is extracted and added to the "tobacco mosaic virus".The plants are then "infected" with the virus and as it spreads through the cells, the added gene starts the process of producing large quantities of the antibody.After just a few days a few leaves are taken, ground up, and the antibody extracted from them. Only a few plants are needed to make enough vaccine for a patient.The Plant-grown vaccine would be much cheaper and in theory could carry less risk to the patient. However, so far, the experimental vaccine has only been tested on a handful of patients to check for any side-effects, so its effectiveness at fighting the disease is still uncertain.
