Thailand introduces tobacco-based treatment for cancer

While tobacco is the world's leading risk factor for cancer, Thailand has developed a tobacco-based drug to treat it.

For the first time in Thailand, professors at Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences have succeeded in developing antibodies from tobacco plants that have inhibitory effects on the growth of cancer cells in laboratory animals.

This gives hope for access to effective cancer drugs and treatments at lower cost.

Researchers at Baiya Phytopharm Co. Ltd, a Thai company affiliated with Chulalongkorn University, had already developed a tobacco-based vaccine against Covid-19.

See: Thai plant-based Covid-19 vaccine to be tested on humans in April

These researchers have taken a new step in the research and development of antibody drugs from tobacco plants, testing solutions that have proven capable of reducing the size and inhibiting the growth of cancer cells in laboratory animals.

Associate Professor Waranyoo Phoolcharoen, Department of Pharmacognosy and Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, said:

"Our research team has developed the technology and system to produce plant proteins to make antibodies, hoping to help reduce the cost of drug production so that cancer patients across the country can access drugs more easily and widely."

The potential of this research was recently recognized by a 2023 research grant from the National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT).

Origin of antibody production from tobacco plants

Waranyoo explained cancer immunotherapy:

“Cancer is caused by cancer cells attaching to cells of the immune system and blocking the body's cells from functioning.

The most well-known chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells in the body.

In the case of immunotherapy or cell therapy, the goal is not to destroy cancer cells, but to stimulate the strengthening of the patient's immune system cells, in order to prevent cancer cells from binding to immune system cells and allow the system to treat the cancer cells itself.

Immunotherapy is becoming increasingly popular, but the antibodies it uses are very expensive.

“The production process still depends on foreign technologies.

The equipment and culture media used in cell culture and the expansion of production scale with cell culture techniques contribute to high production costs, which consequently makes drugs expensive.

With support from CU Enterprise, Waranyoo oversees the plant-based pharmaceutical research unit.

It also works on the development and production of recombinant proteins, secondary metabolites and plant viruses through plant biotechnology, using plants such as tobacco as hosts to produce drugs and vaccines.

The tobacco used is an Australian species called Nicotiana benthamiana.

According to Waranyoo, the bacteria can easily penetrate the plant and the strain can produce large quantities of the necessary drugs.

“We use plants as factories to produce the proteins we need.

We insert antibody-producing genes into tobacco plants so that they produce the antibodies (medicines) we need.

The extracted protein (antibody) is then purified.

We discovered that antibodies produced by plants can bind to proteins on the surface of immune cells."

Dr. Waranyoo discussed the results of research on laboratory animals:

“The antibodies the research team produced from plants can inhibit the growth of cancer cells in laboratory animals.

The size of tumor cells in mice decreased.

This ability to reduce cell size is comparable to that of drugs used on the market.

The results of this research were first published on October 23, 2020, in the journal Scientific Reports.

Cheaper herbal medicines for Thais

As the next steps in the research, Waranyoo mentioned safety and toxicity testing and the study of the drug's structure.

All data must be submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before obtaining approval for human testing.

"If this research is successful, we will be able to produce our own medicines locally, which will reduce the cost of producing medicines and medical expenses.

More people will then have access to cancer drugs.”

Besides cancer, the technology of producing antibodies from plant proteins can also be used to develop drugs or vaccines for many other diseases.

Researchers are currently studying the treatment and prevention of diseases that are particularly problematic in developing countries, such as rabies, hand, foot, and mouth disease, Ebola, Nipah, etc.

Dr. Waranyoo emphasized that the ultimate goal of medical innovation and development is to strengthen and stabilize medicine and medical treatments for the Thai people.

Thai researchers have the potential and technology to develop competitive drugs to achieve this goal.

Source: The Nation Thailand