The ever progressing medical science has invented a vaccine to treat patients suffering from a type of cancer called lymphoma, also called follicular B-cell Lymphoma. In this cancer, the immune system of the body is at great risk of getting attacked. It is a type of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

But recently the researchers from Stanford University in California and Large Scale Biology Corp used tobacco plant to grow vital components of vaccine which could be used to treat lymphoma. The research which was funded by US National Institute of Health was reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers tested the vaccine on 16 patients who suffered from follicular B-cell lymphoma. They induced the plant to produce anti-bodies for the cancer by infecting the plant with a virus that had a gene for the cancer in it.

This process led the tobacco plants to produce antibodies which were then injected in the patients. The researchers found that 70% of the patients had developed an immune response to the cancer. In some other 47% patients, the vaccine has stimulated the type of specific immune response, which the researchers wanted.

Ronald Levy of Stanford University, who led the research, was happy to say that the method is a great way to kill cancer. He said, “The idea is to marshal the body’s immune system to fight cancer. We know that if you get the immune revved up, it can attack and kill cancer.”

 The method developed by the researchers is also beneficial due to sheer volume of antibodies produces that are highly personalized.

Every year, 16,000 people are diagnosed with follicular B-cell lymphoma, which by then is incurable. So such kind of vaccine is quite important for those who are detected in early stages with lymphoma.