Human Antibody Production in Plants and Challenges

In nature, plants do not produce antibodies intrinsically against the invading foreign molecules. Recently, model plants genetically engineered for the production of antibodies, known as plantibodies. The potential functions of these plantibodies were found to be as effective as the antibodies produced by the immune system of human beings. Since the last decade, many plantibodies were produced and used for various applications in the areas of diagnostic, therapeutic and veterinary sciences. By taking advantage of secretory and endomembrane systems, plants have been employed for large scale production of viable and purified plant proteins. Moreover, the biological products occupy the major portion of pharmaceutical compounds, the technology for the production of plantibodies provides an excellent platform for pharmaceutical industries against pandemics and several other infections and diseases.