Two American missionaries infected with the deadly Ebola virus have been treated with the experimental serum known as ZMapp. The serum is derived, in part, from genetically modified tobacco grown in a Kentucky greenhouse.
The tobacco crop is used because of its "plantibodies" (think plant based antibodies). But ZMapp is an experimental drug that has yet to be fully tested on humans---and according to Forbes, has yet to enter phase I clinical trials. ZMapp is based off a three-antibody mixture.
From Forbes:
The three-antibody mixture originated with Mapp Biopharmaceuticals, a small San Diego-based company established in 2003 and led by Larry Zeitlin, Ph.D., a Johns Hopkins-trained reproductive biologist who became an expert in “plantibodies,” antibody therapeutics produced in, and purified from, bioengineered plants.
The ZMapp three-antibody cocktail isn’t a vaccine. Instead, it provides an artifical immune response against sugar-tagged proteins on the outside of the Ebolavirus.
The tobacco portion of ZMapp is cultivated by Kentucky BioProcessing, according to Kentucky.com.
To learn more about how the serum is made and how the tobacco is involved, read the Kentucky.com story.