A recent revelation in immunological circles has been the fact that particulate antigens introduced via an oral route can stimulate systemic immunity against that antigen. One method of producing the large amounts of material that would be needed for vaccination programmes in poor countries, and incidentally is admirably suited to African conditions, would be to use crop plants for production of vaccine antigens. Production of candidate oral vaccines in edible tissues of transgenic plants. A number of useful plant varieties can also be reliably transformed and regenerated, such as tomatoes, carrots, and even maize and bananas.
Rabies ribonucleocapsid as an oral immunogen and immunological enhancer.
Antigens produced in plants by infection with chimeric plant viruses immunize against rabies virus and HIV-1. A plant-derived edible vaccine against hepatitis B virus. Suitable extraction and formulation protocols will be explored, so as to determine the best means of presenting the proteins so produced to the immune system. These will be tested first in mice, then in simian models. The personnel involved are Ed Rybicki, Fiona Tanzer, Ann Jaffray, Livio Heath, Gama Bandawe and Tracy Seaman .