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Killer Weed May Be Life-Saver
A vaccine against the HIV virus may lie in a plant blamed for millions of deaths each year: tobacco. Researchers at CropTech Corporation, a US biotechnology firm, are working to genetically alter the leaf to clone a protein found in two strains of HIV. When the protein, gp120, is given in a vaccine, researchers say, it could prompt the body to develop a resistance to the disease. Scientists around the country are experimenting with using plants to fight HIV and other illnesses. The University of Maryland, for example, is researching ways to use potatoes in an HIV vaccine. The American Cancer Society welcomes new tobacco research. "If tobacco can be used to cure or prevent diseases instead of cause them, that would be fantastic," said Dr Michael
Thun, head of Epidemologic Research for the American Cancer Society in Atlanta.
27 May 2000
Copyright 2000
Belfast News Letter
All Rights Reserved.
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