New tobacco plant fights West Nile virus

Scientists have developed therapeutics from a new generation of tobacco plant that fights West Nile virus and other pathogens.

The therapeutics developed by the research group led by Arizona State University professor Qiang "Shawn" Chen, is potentially safer and more cost-effective and were shown to neutralize and protect mice against a lethal dose challenge of West Nile virus even days after infection.

Chen said that the overarching goal of their research is to create an innovative, yet sustainable and accessible, low cost solution to combat the global threat of West Nile virus.

He added that they hope that the findings may usher in new age of cost-effective, monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) therapeutics against West Nile Virus and other neurological diseases and their next step is to move this forward with the development of bifunctional MAbs that can target to the brain with the ultimate goal of entering human clinical trials.

The study was published in the online edition of PLOS ONE.