RTFA: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/321/589…

Tobacco, which has a gained a reputation as a cause of cancer, may soon earn some praise rather than recrimination after being used by McCormick et al. to manufacture patient-specific vaccines against follicular B cell lymphoma see the figure 1.

Follicular lymphomas are a subtype of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States 2, and are a malignant disease of the lymphatic system that originates from cells of the immune system lymphocytes. The administration of a tobacco-derived non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma vaccine a single-chain segment of an antibody protein in a human clinical trial resulted in immune responses in more than 70% of the patients. A majority of patients showed a cellular immune response, suggesting that the vaccine specifically directs the immune system to attack cancer cells. The study not only demonstrates the safety and efficacy of the plant-made protein, but represents the first time that such responses have been observed using a subcutaneously administered antibody-based vaccine in the absence of a carrier protein which typically boosts the immune response and has been used in all previous clinical studies. Bayer AG, a major pharmaceutical company, has acquired the supporting data from the new study, and very recently announced the opening of a production facility that will use tobacco to manufacture biopharmaceuticals, the first of which will be a candidate patient-specific antibody vaccine for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma therapy.

Now this is pure irony. And everyone likes cures for cancer! As for big business, the tobacco lobbyists can sleep well again.