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Medical use of tobacco plants goes beyond developing vaccines. Credit: freepik
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Shining the light on medical uses of the tobacco plant. Credit: Baiya Phytopharm.
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Baiya Phytopharm developed six prototypes of its Covid-19 vaccine from Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. Credit: Baiya Phytopharm.
Although tobacco constantly receives a bad rap, there are nevertheless quite a few medical benefits to the plant rarely reported by the mainstream press.
Nobody (and that even includes the tobacco industry itself!) denies that tobacco use is tied to a long list of health risks. But, so is excessive consumption of alcohol, refined sugar, unsaturated and trans fats, food additives, and countless other substances within our daily diet. Add to that health risks from things like pesticides and heavy metal residues or air and water pollution and it becomes clear that we are living in a dangerous world. Yet, it is tobacco which almost exclusively receives incredibly negative reporting in the mainstream press, from anti-smoking campaigners and governments. All of that inevitably filters down into the public mind, of course.
Well documented health risks, but…
Yes, nicotine is addictive and it increases the risk for a host of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. Yes, smoking can weaken the natural immune system and endanger fetal development. Yes, tobacco combustion produces a myriad of potentially cancer-inducing compounds, an estimated 70-80% of lung cancer patients actually being (or having been) tobacco consumers. And yes, tobacco smoke can lead to cataracts and premature aging of the skin. These are all well-established facts; and yet they are no reason for demonizing tobacco per se, or for that matter branding all smokers as selfish sociopaths or dangerous killers. Indeed, the plant is useful for so much more than just making tobacco products.
Tobacco as a vaccine “incubator”
The common tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum) as well as several other sub-species are successfully used by pharmaceutical companies as an incubator to bio-engineer certain viral or bacterial materials, as well as particular chemical compounds, to derive vaccines and a number of therapeutic drugs. For instance, several companies are currently working on potential Covid-19 vaccines that utilize tobacco plants to quickly produce sufficient amounts of SARS-Cov-2 DNA fragments that are then further processed into vaccines that will trigger an antigen response in humans. Among these companies are British American Tobacco (BAT), Canadian medical research firm Medicago, and even a Thai outfit, Baiya Phytopharm.
Medicago’s vaccine, which utilizes the Nicotiana benthamiana tobacco plant strain, reportedly is already in phase three of clinical trials, the final step before the company can file the new drug for approval with the Canadian authorities. BAT’s potential Covid-19 vaccine likewise uses Nicotiana benthamiana for rapid reproduction of virus particles implanted into its cells. After harvesting the plants, the virus fragments are extracted and attached to a nano particle that acts as a catalyst to form antigens. Com-pared to more conventional methods, which take several months to complete, BAT’s proprietary technology concludes the process in only about six weeks. Last but not least, Thai pharmaceutical startup Baiya Phytopharm, in collaboration with one of the country’s top universities, deploys a similar method. According to local media reports, the prospective vaccine is already undergoing human trials. If progress proceeds at this pace, a Thailand-developed Covid-19 vaccine could become available by the third quarter of 2022.
Propagating drugs with the help of tobacco
Tobacco is also used to propagate clinical drugs for treating a number of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including diabetes. For example, a team of European scientists under the leadership of Prof. Mario Pezzotti of the University of Verona in 2009 created transgenic tobacco plants that can produce biologically active interleukin-10 (IL-10), a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine. The tobacco-derived drug can potentially help against the development of type-1 diabetes in humans.
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a powerful compound that protects cells from oxidative damage but also helps the human body generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a chemical involved in the energy transfer within cells. A healthy individual is normally able to produce CoQ10 naturally. The coenzyme is contained in certain foods, too.1 It also is available as a food supplement. As the body ages, it gradually loses its ability to synthesize CoQ10, deficiency being often observed in old people. Low levels of CoQ10 have been linked to the development (and exacerbation) of health conditions such as diabetes, brain functionality disorders, heart disease, infertility, and even particular types of cancer. As far as CoQ10 as a dietary supplement is concerned, it is most commonly “harvested” from tobacco plants. Several Indian companies (the country being regarded the world’s largest tobacco grower outside China) are today the global main suppliers of tobacco-derived CoQ10.
Tobacco-based food & feed products
Interestingly, tobacco can be a source of actual human food (as opposed to a dietary supplement) and animal feed, according to a very recent report2 by the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) of the Philippines, notably not a nation known as a prolific tobacco producer. According to research carried out by the department, “a very high-quality protein called ‘fraction-1 protein’ can be extracted from [tobacco] leaves for human consumption.” Furthermore, tobacco seeds, which are completely devoid of nicotine, likewise are rich in protein (25% content) and oil (35%). “As such, [the seeds] are a good source of edible and industrial-type oils. The seed cake obtained after oil extraction serves as protein-rich cattle and horse feed,” the report said. Meanwhile, the aforementioned leaf-extracted fraction-1 protein apparently can be used “in familiar food items such as cheese, gelatin, ‘kropeck’ [a.k.a. krupuk] crackers and as a major component of beverages.”
A treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
Last but not least, nicotine, the very substance that frequently causes anti-tobacco campaigners to break out in fits of rage, may have certain medical benefits after all. Over a number of decades, epidemiological studies on smoking populations appear to have consistently found that cigarette smokers have lower rates of Parkinson’s disease than non-smokers, as reported by none less of an organization than The American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA)3 . While it is by no means conclusive whether smoking (or rather, nicotine intake) actually protects against the onset or progression of Parkinson’s, several other non-governmental organizations (including the Michael J. Fox Foundation) have published quite similar reports. However, it is to be clearly understood at this point that, firstly, no type of “nicotine therapy” whatsoever has been approved anywhere in the world as a treatment for or prophylactic drug against Parkinson’s. Secondly, even if nicotine should be confirmed effective against the disease, tobacco smoking surely is not the best way of administering it. The risk for developing other debilitating illnesses while treating another would be a rather foolish trade-off.
1 Luisa Bortesi, Marzia Rossato, Flora Schuster, Nicole Raven, Johannes Stadlmann, Linda Avesani, Alberto Falorni, Flavia Bazzoni, Ralph Bock, Stefan Schillberg and Mario Pezzotti. Viral and murine interleukin-10 are correctly processed and retain their biological activity when produced in tobacco. BMC Biotechnology,
2 https://www.nta.da.gov.ph/programs_uses.html
3 https://www.apdaparkinson.org/article/smoking-and-parkinsons-disease/