Have you ever been given a vaccination shot? Did it felt good? Would you love being injected with painful syringes again and again? If you would not, then you may now scream a goodbye to tradi- tional vaccines and be ready to loudly say hello to needle- free edible vaccines. Yes, edi- ble! With genetic engineering, you could actually get im- munized by just simply eat- ingsomething that most of us, if not all, love doing. But the question here is, how safe are they?
What are vaccines? Vaccine is a biological preparation that is adminis- tered to produce or artificially increase immunity to a par- ticular disease. Its like a na- tional security threat that makes the armed forces of our body totally prepared for a possible terrorist attack and ready to provide full de- fense anytime. A vaccine typically con- tains an antigen, an agent that resembles a pathogen, and is conventionally made from live attenuated or com- pletely killed forms of the mi- crobe. Today, newer ap- proaches use purified antigen and recombinant DNA to cre- ate vaccines.
What is an edible vaccine? Edible vaccine is an anti- genic protein that is genet- ically engineered into a con- sumable crop. It involves the introduction of a desired gene of interest in a plant to man- ufacture proteins encoding for the same gene. This is ac- complished by transfor- mation, a genetic modification of plant cell by incorporation of a transgene taken from an- other organism. This could be done through a variety of techniques including Agro- bacterium mediated gene transfer (see Figure 1), biolis- tic method, or electro- poration. Production of edible vac- cines also requires proper selection of the plant to use. It should be a plant which makes products that are raw- ly consumed to avoid degra- dation during cooking.
Examples of edible vaccines Are there really existing edible vaccines today? Yes! What was once an imagina- tion is now definitely a reali- ty. Would you imagine that potatoes are actually being used as vaccine against chol- era and hepatitis B? How about rabies infection? Do you know that it can actually be prevented by tobacco? And hey! Are you fond of eating maize? Have you ever thought that by just simply eating your favorite corn, you can get immunized against gas- troenteritis caused by corona virus? Moreover, science and technology is on its way to discovering treatment against AIDS. How fascinating that tomato is actually currently being studied for its potential to prevent the disease? But wait. How about ba- nanas? Would you believe that bananas are the best choice for edible vaccine? They are sterile that genes do not pass from one banana to another, therefore, prevents cross-contaminationan is- sue on edible vaccines. Ba- nanas are consumed raw, and if otherwise cooked, pro- teins are not destroyed. They are inexpensive, they grow quickly and they contain high concentration of Vitamin A which may boost immune response.
How does an edible vaccine work? Taken orally, an antigen containing edible vaccine is not degraded by gastric en- zymes because of the protec- tion provided by tough plant cell wall. The antigen is re- leased near the Peyers patches of intestine, is taken up by M-cells, and is passed to macrophages and B-cells in the bloodstream. Macro- phages present pieces of an- tigen to helper T-cells, which as a response activate B-cells to make and release antibod- ies to neutralize the antigen. This elicits immunity when the disease agent appears. Memory helper T-cells pro- duce cytotoxic T-cells to at- tack infected cells, and rapid- ly stimulate B-cells to secrete antibodies that will immedi- ately neutralize the disease agent. (see Figure 2) Why go for edible vaccines? According to WHO, 20 million deaths annually worldwide is caused by vari- ous diseases. Mortality rates are increasing every year de- spite successful immuniza- tion programs. Why? Tradi- tional vaccines are costly. Not everyone can afford to get vaccination shots. In addi- tion, although it rarely hap- pens, live attenuated forms of microbes can spring back to life and become virulent again. Furthermore, non- sterilized syringes are in fact contributing to millions of death each year. Can edible vaccines over- come these problems? Edible vaccines are cost-effective, easy-to-administer, easy-to- store, fail-safe and sociocul- turally acceptable. They are produced from plants, hence, are easily available. Moreover, edible vaccines are engi- neered to contain antigen, but bear no genes that would enable whole pathogen to form. They are also needle- free; thus, do not require ad- ministration by injection. Most importantly, edible vac- cines are affordable. It can therefore decrease the num- ber of deaths in the develop- ing countries.
Safety issues The main safety issue on edible vaccines is cross- contamination. Other crops could be contaminated through cross-pollination. The presence of the vaccine in plant debris could also be spread as dust and could pol- lute land surfaces and ground waters. It may then affect animals and humans dwelling in the area by drink- ing vaccine polluted water or breathing vaccine polluted dust. How is it being ad- dressed? USDA and FDA reg- ulate the location and con- tainment of plant-based pharmaceuticals. Cultivation and production of pharma- ceutical crops should be done in production facilities like greenhouses or plant tissue culture laboratories that pre- vent environmental release of biopharmaceuticals. More significant challeng- es are yet to be solved before edible vaccines can be regis- tered, marketed and widely be used. However, while there are limited accesses to essen- tial healthcare worldwide and there are still struggles with complex diseases, it is better for now to think that edible vaccines remain a represen- tation of an appetizing pro- spect.
References Doshi, V., Rawal, H. and Mukherjee, S. 2013. Edi- ble vaccines from GM crops: Current status and future scope. Journal of Pharmacetical and Scien- tific Innovation, v. 2, p. 1- 6, doi: 10.7897/2277- 4572.02321 Mishra, N., Gupta, P., Khatri, K., Goyal, A. and Vyas, S. 2008. Edible vaccines: A new approach to oral im- munization. Indian Jour- nal of Biotechnology, v. 7, p. 283-294 Langridge, W. 2000. Edible vaccines. Scientific Amer- ican, v. 283, p. 66-71 Shah, C., Trivedi, M., Vachhani, U. and Joshi, V. 2011. Edible vaccine: A better way for immuniza- tion. International Jour- nal of Current Pharma- ceutical Research, v. 3, p. 53-56
Figure 1. How to make an edible vaccine using Agrobacterium mediated gene transfer.