Abstract
Plant-made oral vaccines have the potential to overcome many of the limitations of traditional vaccines. Here we report on progress towards a lettuce-made measles vaccine. Lettuce is a palatable species which exhibits rapid growth in contained hydroponic systems and produces negligible quantities of toxins. Measles virus hemagglutinin (MV-H) protein was successfully expressed in transgenic lettuce and found to be immunogenic in mice. Lettuce extracts containing MV-H protein induced MV neutralising antibodies following intraperitoneal injection and intranasal inoculation of mice. Using a sequential prime-boost strategy in which mice were vaccinated with MV-H DNA followed by an orally delivered freeze-dried MV-H lettuce formulation a 10-fold increased in MV-specific IgG titers was observed relative to mice vaccinated with control lettuce formulations (p = 0.05). MV-H protein was stable in freeze-dried lettuce for up to 13 months at room temperature, and survived at least a week at temperatures as high as 50°C. This research represents a significant step towards the development of measles vaccine formulation that is effective, temperature-stable, easy to administer in a resource-poor setting and amenable to large scale manufacture.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3538-3544 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Vaccine |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 17 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published or Issued - 24 Apr 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Measles
- Oral delivery
- Plant-made vaccine
- Saponins
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Medicine
- General Immunology and Microbiology
- General Veterinary
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Infectious Diseases