Plant-based vaccines and antibodies to combat COVID-19: current status and prospects

Abstract

Globally, researchers are undertaking significant efforts to design and develop effective vaccines, therapeutics, and antiviral drugs to curb the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Plants have been used for the production of vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, immunomodulatory proteins, drugs, and pharmaceuticals via molecular farming/transient expression system and are considered as bioreactors or factories for their bulk production. These biological products are stable, safe, effective, easily available, and affordable. Plant molecular farming could facilitate rapid production of biologics on an industrial scale, and has the potential to fulfill emergency demands, such as in the present situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article aims to describe the methodology and basics of plant biopharming, in addition to its prospective applications for developing effective vaccines and antibodies to counter COVID-19.

An update on novel approaches for diagnosis and treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection

“…Plants then can be commercially cultivated on a large scale as cost and time saving platform in some high demand situations like what we encounter for COVID-19 now. This approach has been developed to produce biological products such as vaccines, antibodies, immunomodulatory proteins, drugs and biologicals in a large scale and the first approved edible vaccine is manufactured for Newcastle disease in chickens in 2006 [ 132 ] and several clinical trials are investigating the efficacy and safety of medicines for treatment of chronic and infectious diseases [ 133 ]. Zheng et al, investigated immunogenicity of tobacco-expressed SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein in mice [ 134 ].…”

“…Zheng et al, investigated immunogenicity of tobacco-expressed SARS-CoV nucleocapsid protein in mice [ 134 ]. Currently several companies such as Kentucky BioProcessing company, British and American Tobacco Company, Medicago Inc. and iBio are investigating the development of tobacco-based SARS-Cov-2 protein subunit or virus like particle (VLP) vaccines [ 133 ]. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been also used for the development of edible vaccine that exploit spike, envelope and membrane proteins [ 135 ].…”

Plant-Based COVID-19 Vaccines: Current Status, Design, and Development Strategies of Candidate Vaccines

“…Recombinant DNA technology-based production has dominated COVID-19 vaccine development, narrowing the whole virus vaccine to 18% of the total vaccines in clinical trials (Figure 1). Plant-based production has received immense attention among vaccine researchers as a potential alternative to rapidly produce affordable COVID-19 vaccines and other therapeutics [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Plant-based production offers several advantages, such as low cost, rapidity, scalability, and safety.…”

“…The technology has been used to produce a variety of pharmaceuticals, including vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, human growth hormones, immunomodulators, diagnostic reagents, and medical devices; some of them are in clinical trials [14,[22][23][24][25][26]. Several correctly folded antigens against numerous infectious viruses, including influenza, Ebola, dengue, Plant-based production has received immense attention among vaccine researchers as a potential alternative to rapidly produce affordable COVID-19 vaccines and other therapeutics [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Plant-based production offers several advantages, such as low cost, rapidity, scalability, and safety.…”

“…Plant-based production has received immense attention among vaccine researchers as a potential alternative to rapidly produce affordable COVID-19 vaccines and other therapeutics [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ]. Plant-based production offers several advantages, such as low cost, rapidity, scalability, and safety.…”