Producing medicines in p...( ts in large quantities in the seeds of ...)

ts in large quantities in the seeds of the Arabidopsis plant. Over 10% of the proteins in the seeds of these plants are the desired antibody variant. As is the case with whole antibodies, these more complex antibody variants have two binding places for a specified substance. This close similarity to whole antibodies makes these antibody variants extremely useful for therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

However, the production of proteins in plants is completed in a different way than in humans. Therefore, to be certain that this different completion process does not affect the effectiveness of the potential medicine; the scientists have subjected the action of the antibody variant to an exhaustive battery of tests. These laboratory tests have shown that the antibody variants produced in plants are just as effective as whole human antibodies in protecting animal cells against infection with the Hepatitis A virus.

This is a significant step forward in making protein production in plants a real alternative to current production methods.

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Contact: Sooike Stoops
sooike.stoops@vib.be
329-244-6611
VIB, Flanders Interuniversity Institute of Biotechnology
15-Jan-2007


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