Scientists have produced potatoes that contain vaccines against bacterial infections. Edible vaccines are not new but their success has been limited as the digestive juices start to destroy them before they can be delivered into the bloodstream. Researchers appear to have overcome this obstacle by attaching genetic material from two toxic stomach bugs to genetic material of cholera toxin.
This combination was inserted into potatoes to make an edible vaccine and the potatoes fed to mice. The mice made antibodies against the bugs for as long as two months and even passed some of this immunity onto their offspring.
This work demonstrates that it may well be possible to create effective food based vaccines.
Nature Biotechnology, June 2001
