BI110- Unifying Life Processes (Fall/2015)

Tutorial Section 2: Reading Article and answering questions (Method 2

(4S)).
11/18/2015, Wednesday, 4:30pm
T.A: Thiviya Kanagasabesan
Asad, Usama

I.A:Carly Shaw

150629890

Tutorial 5: Production of hepatitis B

surface antigen
in transgenic plants for oral immunization
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5

What
What
What
What
What

is the question that the paper is addressing?

is the paper specifically trying to find out/answer?
did the author(s) do to find the answer?
did the author(s) find?
did the author(s) conclude?

1) The paper is addressing the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine, what

factors have led to its success (identification of an immunogenic
protein, and the establishment of a quantitative measurement of
success of the vaccines), where it is derived from (surface
antigens on liver cells of the infected individual) and how it is a
major problem because the vaccine is too expensive. (1)
2) This article is specifically trying to answer the question of an
inexpensive vaccine, since there are 2 billion people worldwide
infected with HBV (1). Also, this article is trying to find plants
that have the specific immunogenic protein (i.e.; tobacco leaves),
and trying to give large dosages of it to infected individuals
through oral routes. This is because plants are cost effective, and
do not require processing since, as mentioned above, can be
taken by an infected individual through oral routes. This study
was therefore taken in order to see if plants, through oral routes,
could activate serum anti bodies (anti- HBsAg). (1)
3) What the author(s) did, basically, in order to test their question,
was to gather 20 mice, 10 for control, and feed each group a

cube of tuber (potato), once a week, for three consecutive

weeks. The control group was given the non-transgenic tuber,
while the test group was given the potato expressing HBsAg (at
1.1g/g). The mice were fasted overnight, and fed the potato in a
given time frame of 24h. Finally, the serum of the two groups of
mice was tested using the AUSAB kit, where the quantitative
panel standard conditions for optimal density values set to
mIU/ml. Mice were then given a sub immunogenic vaccine to see
whether high levels of antibodies would form.
4) The author(s) found that the mice that were fed the transgenic
potato tuber containing HBsAg showed a boost in serum
antibody response, which peaked at 73mIU/ml, 3 weeks after the
last dosage of the sub immunogenic vaccine was given. For the
mice in the control group that were fed the non-transgenic
potato tuber, no significant response in serum antibody
production was seen, in primary, nor booster responses. (1)
5) The author(s) concluded that after oral delivery of a plant
containing expressions of HBsAg, such as transgenic tubers
(potatoes), immune memory cells were established, and that a
highly responsive recall result was elicited by parenteral
immunization. (1)

Resources
(1); Richter, L.J., Thanavala Y., Arntzen C.J. & Mason H.S.
Production of hepatitis B surface antigen in transgenic
plants for oral immunization. Nature Biotechnology 18,
1161-1171 (2000).