PROTALIX BIOTHERAPEUTICS, INC. (PLX)

[Kronberg]

Hi Spideyboy! How do you doing after traveling to China? Have you read this?
Plant cell-made protein antigens for induction of Oral tolerance

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S073497501930103X?via%3Dihub

Use of plant cells as “Green Bioreactors” is now becoming a promising approach for production and delivery of biopharmaceutical proteins. US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first plant-made biopharmaceutical for human use. “Taliglucerase alfa” is produced for enzyme-replacement therapy for the rare genetic disorder Gaucher's disease. This was developed by Protalix Biotherapeutics (Israel) via expression in carrot cells, grown in contained bioreactors

10. Potential for treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by mucosal inflammation and injury of the colon and small intestine, which affects more than one million North Americans. For unclear reasons, the incidence of this disease has been increasing (Hanauer, 2006). The two major forms of IBD, Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), are diagnosed based on different gut location and clinical presentation. Although UC is typically observed in the large intestine and CD occurs in the entire gastrointestinal tract, immunological mucosal injury is a central feature for both disorders. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain and weight loss, even death resulting from severe dehydration, blood loss and malnutrition. The pathogenesis of the disease is complex and not well understood, in part due to the diversity of bacterial, viral and environmental factors in genetically susceptible individuals (Menassa et al., 2007). While it is possible to treat IBD with systemic administration of recombinant IL-10, side effects make this approach unattractive. Local introduction of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in the gut environment would solve this conundrum. Feasibility can be tested in certain strains of IL-10 deficient mice, a commonly used pre-clinical model of colitis. Oral delivery of tobacco cells expressing human interleukin-10 (hIL-10) reduced the severity of colitis at the sites of inflammation in IBD-susceptible IL-10-/- mice (Menassa et al., 2007). Dietary supplementation of plant cells hIL-10 was well tolerated by treated mice. Gut histology revealed reduced inflammation, which was correlated with lower expression levels TNF-a mRNA in the small bowel and an increase in IL-2 and IL-1 ß mRNA levels (Menassa et al., 2007).