New research could lead to big breakthroughs
New research headed by Chris Hall, Guelph’s own professor of the School of Environmental Sciences, is using tobacco plants to manufacture a new, more cost-effective antibody to aid in the fight against breast cancer.
This new antibody is plant-based, as opposed to its animal-based forerunner, herceptin, which has been in use since the late 1990s. The new, biologically similar version has proven through clinical mouse trials to be just as effective at reducing the size of breast cancer tumors, at a fraction of the cost.
Speaking to Katherine Tuerke of the SPARK program, Hall said, “traditionally, it costs $450 million to produce 5,000 liters of [herceptin]; we can build a 12-acre facility with equipment and [the] equivalent amount of antibody for $80 million.”
This has become extremely significant internationally, but also here at home. The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario lists habitual tobacco use as the leading cause of premature death and preventable disease and disability in the country.
It is estimated that 40,000 Canadians die each year from tobacco use. That’s roughly one third of the population of Guelph. Of this number, 13,000 deaths come from Ontario alone.
While tobacco use is not directly linked to breast cancer, it is linked to lung cancer, emphysema and many other ailments. It is somewhat ironic that the same plant is now being used to combat cancer.
This new technology, which is currently aimed specifically at breast cancer, is only now ready for human clinical trials. However, Hall and his team plan to use the same methods to develop alternative antibodies to treat colorectal cancer, neck cancer, and even HIV and AIDS. All of these plant-based antibodies are projected to be much cheaper to produce, helping to cut health-care costs across the board.
If successful, one day this technology could be used to combat the very cancers that tobacco causes. Estimates posit that, every year in Ontario, smoking costs taxpayers $3-4 billion dollars in direct costs and another $7 billion in indirect costs (the value of time off work due to illness).
The announcement of this breakthrough could not have come at a more fitting time. October is, after all, Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Furthermore, as the City of Guelph contemplates its proposed citywide ban on smoking in public areas, it seems that tobacco is going to remain in the limelight for the foreseeable future.