Tobacco plant, a potent carcinogenic agent may actually be a mean to treat a certain form of cancer.


Researchers at Stanford University are using these plants as factories for an antibody chemical specific to cells causing follicular B-cell lymphoma.


These antibodies are put into a patient newly diagnosed with the disease. If successful, the body would recognize and destroy lymphoma an immune-system malignancy.


"It's a cool technology, as it's really ironic to make treatment for cancer out of tobacco. That appealed to me," Dr Ronald Levy, the lead researcher said.


The technique is straightforward. After a patient's cancer cells are isolated, the gene responsible for producing the antibody is extracted and added to the "tobacco mosaic virus."


Only a few plants are needed to make enough vaccine for a patient. The Plant-grown vaccine would be much cheaper and could carry less risk to the patient.


However, the experimental vaccine has only been tested on a handful of patients to check for any side effects and hence its effectiveness is only uncertain.