Asian Scientist (Aug. 15, 2013) – An international team of scientists has engineered a strain of rice that produces an anti-rotavirus antibody for preventing rotavirus infections.
For children and immune compromised adults in developing countries, diarrheal disease induced by rotavirus can be life threatening. Current rotaviral vaccines are highly effective in the Western world, but are not as effective in developing countries. Additionally, these vaccines are not appropriate for use outside of a very narrow age window or in immune compromised individuals.
In research published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the team led by Yoshikazu Yuki at the University of Tokyo report the development of a strain of rice that produces a rotavirus-specific antibody.
Both normal and immune deficient mice fed the engineered rice were protected against rotavirus. The researchers also report that the rice maintains its efficacy even after long-term storage and heat exposure.
The engineered rice strain may provide a low cost, efficient strategy for prevention of rotavirus infection, especially in developing countries where rice is a staple food.
The article can be found at: Takahashi et al. (2013) Rice-Based Oral Antibody Fragment Prophylaxis And Therapy Against Rotavirus Infection.
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Source: JCI; Photo: sarae/Flickr/CC.
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