Corn-based vaccines: current status and prospects

Abstract

Corn is an attractive host for vaccine production and oral delivery. The present review provides the current outlook and perspectives for this field. Among seed-crops, corn represents a key source of biomass for food, fuel production, and other applications. Since the beginning of the development of plant-based vaccines, corn was explored for the production and delivery of vaccines. About a dozen of pathogens have been studied under this technology with distinct degrees of development. A vaccine prototype against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli was evaluated in a phase I clinical trial and several candidates targeting bacterial and viral diseases are under preclinical evaluation. The present review provides an updated outlook on this topic highlighting the employed expression strategies; perspectives for the field are also provided.

Recent development of oral vaccines (Review)

“…For the production of oral vaccines, seed plants that contain substantial amounts of soluble protein and that can maintain their quality under storage conditions are typically regarded as more appropriate candidates.. Cereals, such as corn and rice, are also particularly well suited due to the abundance of soluble proteins in the endosperm, which can be separated from the rest of the seed, thereby increasing antigen concentration and reducing the required dosage ( 159 ). Currently, antigen gene expression has been successfully achieved in corn ( 160 ) and rice ( 161 ). In addition, with the establishment of industrial algae production, research into the use of transgenic algae as bioreactors for the production of exogenous proteins has begun ( 162 ).…”

A Tasty Twist: Exploring the Potential of Edible Vaccines

“…Transgenic material was generally used in the listed publications to elicit considerable selective IgG and IgA reactions (both local and systemic); nonetheless, it would be interesting to better characterize their capacity to trigger cellular immune responses in future investigations. Few studies have examined the immunoprotective potential of corn-based vaccines through experimental challenge with the matching pathogen; therefore, further study in this area is still needed [44]. One benefit of administering vaccinations orally via plant cells or biomass is that the plant chemicals can contribute to vaccine responsiveness through a variety of methods.…”

“…A strong potential for this technique was found in the preclinical study of numerous vaccines derived from maize that target human diseases. One candidate underwent review in a phase I clinical trial with encouraging outcomes [44]. As a comestible vaccination for people and animals, transgenic sludge (Zea mays) shops expressing rabies contagion antigenic glycoproteins demonstrated.…”

Plant-made poliovirus vaccines – Safe alternatives for global vaccination

“…Moreover, seed-based expression systems could be investigated to increase protein stability and yields. In addition to their excellent storage properties, seeds are natural reservoirs of nutrients and ideal sources for oral vaccine formulation ( Rosales-Mendoza et al., 2017 ; Schwestka et al., 2020 ).…”