Plant Antibodies Effective, Study Says
From Times Wire Reports
Antibodies produced by genetically engineered plants seem to work just as well as those naturally produced by the body, researchers reported. The antibodies, nicknamed “plantibodies,” worked against the herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), which causes genital herpes, the researchers reported in the journal Nature Biotechnology. Dr. Kevin Whaley and colleagues in the biophysics department at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore used soybeans that were genetically engineered to produce the human antibody against HSV-2. The antibody they purified from the soybeans was just as effective as one made by mammals for protecting mice against genital herpes, they reported.
