title: Plant-based vaccines: novel and low-cost possible route for Mediterranean innovative vaccination strategies.
abstract: A plant bioreactor has enormous capability as a system that supports many biological activities, that is, production of plant bodies, virus-like particles (VLPs), and vaccines. Foreign gene expression is an efficient mechanism for getting protein vaccines against different human viral and nonviral diseases. Plants make it easy to deal with safe, inexpensive, and provide trouble-free storage. The broad spectrum of safe gene promoters is being used to avoid risk assessments. Engineered virus-based vectors have no side effect. The process can be manipulated as follows: (a) retrieve and select gene encoding, use an antigenic protein from GenBank and/or from a viral-genome sequence, (b) design and construct hybrid-virus vectors (viral vector with a gene of interest) eventually flanked by plant-specific genetic regulatory elements for constitutive expression for obtaining chimeric virus, (c) gene transformation and/or transfection, for transient expression, into a plant-host model, that is, tobacco, to get protocols processed positively, and then moving into edible host plants, (d) confirmation of protein expression by bioassay, PCR-associated tests (RT-PCR), Northern and Western blotting analysis, and serological assay (ELISA), (e) expression for adjuvant recombinant protein seeking better antigenicity, (f) extraction and purification of expressed protein for identification and dosing, (g) antigenicity capability evaluated using parental or oral delivery in animal models (mice and/or rabbit immunization), and (h) growing of construct-treated edible crops in protective green houses. Some successful cases of heterologous gene-expressed protein, as edible vaccine, are being discussed, that is, hepatitis C virus (HCV). R9 mimotope, also named hypervariable region 1 (HVR1), was derived from the HVR1 of HCV. It was used as a potential neutralizing epitope of HCV. The mimotope was expressed using cucumber mosaic virus coat protein (CP), alfalfa mosaic virus CP P3/RNA3, and tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) CP-tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV) CP as expression vectors into tobacco plants. Expressed recombinant protein has not only been confirmed as a therapeutic but also as a diagnostic tool. Herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), HSV-2 gD, and HSV-2 VP16 subunits were transfected into tobacco plants, using TMV CP-TMGMV CP expression vectors.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory II, Plant Virus and Phytoplasma Research Department, Plant Pathology Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt. Electronic address: aboulata_nady@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Aboul-Ata E
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Aboul-Ata
authors.affiliation: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonella
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vitti
authors.affiliation: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nuzzaci
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology Laboratory II, Plant Virus and Phytoplasma Research Department, Plant Pathology Research Institute, ARC, Giza, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ahmad K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: El-Attar
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, Section of Internal Medicine, Allergology and Immunology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Piazzolla
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation, Section of Internal Medicine, Allergology and Immunology, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Cosimo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tortorella
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ali M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Harandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Pure and Applied Biochemistry, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Olof
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Gävle, Gävle, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sandra A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: School of Agricultural, Forestry, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piazzolla
mesh_terms: D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods*; D014611:Vaccination; D022462:Vaccines, Edible / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D022462:Vaccines, Edible; D014765:Viral Vaccines
keywords: AlMV-viral vector; CMV-viral vector; Chimeric virus; HCV-HVR1-expressed protein; HSV-2 gD- and HSV-2 VP16-expressed proteins; Plant-based vaccine; TMV-viral vector