West Nile Virus May Have Met Its Match: Tobacco

An anonymous reader writes in with news about a compound produced using genetically altered tobacco plants that may prove useful in battling the West Nile virus. "Some people think of tobacco as a drug, whereas others think of it as a therapy — or both. But for the most part, it's hard to find people who think of the tobacco plant in terms of its medical applications. Qiang Chen, an infectious disease researcher at Arizona State University, is one such person. His team of scientists conducted an experiment, published today in PLOS ONE, that demonstrates how a drug produced in tobacco plants can be used to prevent death in mice infected with a lethal dose of West Nile virus. The study represents an important first step in the development of a treatment for the mosquito-borne disease that has killed 400 people in the US within the last two years."

Comments

Tobacco dust

[flyingfsck]

My father got tobacco dust for free at the local ciggie factory (the owner was a friend) and spread it in the garden to control insect pests.

Re:Tobacco dust

[HairyNevus]

Yeah the properties that give tobacco, and all plants in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family, their uses as a pesticide are well known. This is different, this is a man-made antibody that uses the tobacco plant almost like a factory to produce it en masse (if I'm reading the mumbo jumbo correct).

Re:Well, anything that kills the host

[Ferrofluid]

Jesus, does no one even read the summary? The drug isn't nicotine -- it's a genetically-engineered monoclonal antibody produced by the tobacco.

summary so wrong

[danlip]

It wasn't "found" in tobacco, it was inserted into tobacco by genetic engineering. Even by slashdot standards that is a terrible summary.