Tired of waiting - Hire scientists to make HSV2 tomato and lettuce vaccine

[OFMDH]

I would love Cas9 to be used in some viral vector to disable the virus in our DGR as a cure, but the reality is there is no business case to do that. To get that done you have to contract a lab yourself. Meaning you probably need to be independently wealthy to hire a lab to make it. Further its plausible one will need a multiple drug therapy. 

Therefore if people want to raise some money for a "cure" (aka no shedding/OBs) the future ought to include some edible vaccines. Imagine having a garden and growing your own medicine? Boosters a drag? Make a taco supreme. 

 

http://imgur.com/usou9zh

 

[Whyyyyy]

That would be very cool! No disrespect (I'm not scientist) is it possible? (Yes, this is a serious question, I'm clueless)

[OFMDH]

2 minutes ago, Whyyyyy said:

That would be very cool! No disrespect (I'm not scientist) is it possible? (Yes, this is a serious question, I'm clueless)

There is already a mutated potato tried in people for an E. Coli vaccine - plant cell walls make it to the intestines where they can release the antigens and generate systemic and mucosal immunity. The people had to eat it raw though as cooking would break things down.

Seriously I would love a tomato and lettuce in my backyard and just let a million of them grow. When I eat them I can get nutrition and Ab boosting whenever I want. 

[OFMDH]

http://imgur.com/oYKp85k

Picture how it works: 

[Whyyyyy]

Yes, that would be awesome! 

[Whyyyyy]

1 minute ago, OhFuckMyDickHurts said:

http://imgur.com/oYKp85k

Picture how it works: 

And this would be to prevent outbreaks naturally, correct? 

[OFMDH]

Just now, Whyyyyy said:

And this would be to prevent outbreaks naturally, correct? 

Food is already being engineered. This is just adding viral antigens to the mix and with the right antigens selected you ought to be able to dramatically decrease OBs over time. Further with an edible vaccine you can sidestep the entire manufacturing process, purification, refrigeration, the pharmacy etc. and lower the cost to almost nothing but the price of a few seeds AND dispense with needed an "adjuvant" which is used to stimulate immune responses.

Another example (http://www.pnas.org/content/102/9/3378.short)  A hepatitis B potato vaccine worked in 52-62% of the people in raising antibodies to the desired protein. If we got tomatoes/lettuce and ate it everyday I bet a lot of us would start making the antibodies we need to help suppress the viral infection we have..... the best part is we could boost everyday and really get the immune system to respond. 

[Whyyyyy]

2 minutes ago, OhFuckMyDickHurts said:

Food is already being engineered. This is just adding viral antigens to the mix and with the right antigens selected you ought to be able to dramatically decrease OBs over time. Further with an edible vaccine you can sidestep the entire manufacturing process, purification, refrigeration, the pharmacy etc. and lower the cost to almost nothing but the price of a few seeds AND dispense with needed an "adjuvant" which is used to stimulate immune responses.

Another example (http://www.pnas.org/content/102/9/3378.short)  A hepatitis B potato vaccine worked in 52-62% of the people in raising antibodies to the desired protein. If we got tomatoes/lettuce and ate it everyday I bet a lot of us would start making the antibodies we need to help suppress the viral infection we have..... the best part is we could boost everyday and really get the immune system to respond. 

This is awesome! I'm all for a natural remedy. I'm not currently on any medication. I just try to eat clean and use natural supplements.

[Whyyyyy]

Why lettuce and tomatos?

[Constant Diplomat]

Lettuce is easy to grow, tomatoes not so easy but I think the point is that both do not require cooking and are common staples in Western cuisine. That's my guess.

It sounds like a fun idea, however I would be concerned that the seeds themselves would not be cheap... depending on who pays for their creation and thus owns the intellectual property. Some kind of herpes robin hood would be ideal, or everyone pools money together.

[OFMDH]

He's right, easy to grow and prepare without cooking. You could do other plant food. But it's not a one size fits all situation. Evidence in literature indicates people respond differently to antigens like gD2 vs gB2, one could help while the other doesn't. Thus might as well have multiple veggies.

 

[Constant Diplomat]

10 minutes ago, OhFuckMyDickHurts said:

He's right, easy to grow and prepare without cooking. You could do other plant food. But it's not a one size fits all situation. Evidence in literature indicates people respond differently to antigens like gD2 vs gB2, one could help while the other doesn't. Thus might as well have multiple veggies.

 

 

I could use a little more encouragement to eat more raw greens. 32 years old and I still eat like a teenager.

[StayingUpbeat]

It's not exactly the same technology but tobacco leaves are one of the hot "new" mediums by which small batches of recombinant drugs are manufactured.  Much to OFMDH's point synthesizing compounds which can be described by a DNA sequence (like antibodies and viral antigens) is relatively straightforward in a plant.  Once the plant is synthesizing the DNA sequence it's a matter of growing more plants for more "drug".

For some context on a practical application "Tobacco plant may be key to Ebola drugs: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/03/health/ebola-tobacco-plant/"

There's a device called a "gene gun" that is typically used to deliver transgenes into the plant being edited (below). 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_gun

As with anything there are challenges (i.e. plants tend to make insoluble proteins) and the resulting proteins are typically to big to pass from the digestive tract into the bloodstream but it's definitely an interesting idea.  It would probably only be a few thousand $'s to have someone like genScript run a custom order to synthesize a proto-lettuce leaf with the antigen(s) of choice. Of course buyer beware when it comes to actually eating it without some rigorous testing and it's questionable how much wouldn't simply be dissolved by stomach acid.