Expression of Rabies antibodies in tobacco and maize

Abstract

Rabies, an important disease in Asia and Africa, is an acute viral disease of the central nervous system that affects humans and other mammals. Upon bites or contact with rabid animals patients are immediately immunized with antibodies followed by human diploid cell vaccine (HDCV). Lack of post-exposure treatment usually results in 100% fatality. Monoclonal antibodies are inherently stable human mucosal surface defence proteins with high specificity, low toxicity, and appropriate for chronic conditions as inject able, topical and orally applied. Plants have proven to be efficient production system for therapeutic proteins with advantages of scalability and product safety compared to other production systems. The monoclonal antibody (MAb) E559 is part of a cocktail of antibodies that are used as post exposure prophylaxis against rabies. The authors report progress on the expression of functional E559 in transgenic tobacco and maize seed. To date the authors have generated and crossed transgenic tobacco and maize plants expressing E559 heavy and light antibody chains. These hybrids are currently being analysed for fully assembled antibody. The authors plan to determine efficacy of the antibody molecules against infective rabies virus, and to develop technologies for antibody extraction from plant tissue matrix.