Dear Colleagues,

The development of vaccines from plants has been going on for over two decades. Vaccine production in plants requires time and a lot of effort. Researchers the world-over are involved in resolute endeavors to use all available schemes for the development of safe and efficacious vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and other deadly viral diseases. With the introduction of transient expression technology, plant-based manufacture has been deemed as a feasible strategy which is increasingly gaining the attention of various pharmaceutical companies. Currently, few plant-produced vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 have reached the phase of preclinical and clinical trials. Nevertheless, in spite of the slow advancements in the commercialization of plant-derived vaccines, the success of clinical trials of plant-produced vaccines against influenza and COVID-19 in recent years renders great promise towards the commercialization of such plant-derived vaccines in the near future. Compared to xenobiotics, plant-based compounds are inherently safe to use due to their diminished toxicity, eco-friendliness and biocompatibility, and hence require less-rigorous appraisal. Plant-made vaccines could not be more important in tackling such unexpected pandemics as COVID-19.

The quest for efficacious plant-based biopharmaceuticals against deadly viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 is ongoing, and considering the novelty of newly emerging viruses and their variants, safety issues loom large over the use of phytochemicals and plant-based vaccines/therapeutics. This situation, combined with the dearth of information on the efficacy, quality and safety of phytochemicals, precludes their application in medical practices worldwide wherein uninvestigated usage of phytochemicals is not recommended. The marketing and well-defined use of plant-derived products must be authorized only after obtaining enough scientific data demonstrating that the pure constituent or active ingredient of the plant-based product has proven potency. The use of plant-derived vaccines is subject to stringent regulations which are, by-and-large, complex and time-consuming. The beneficial effects of plant-derived expression systems can be acquired only by circumventing regulatory hurdles.

This Special Issue aims to describe recent findings in plant-produced vaccines and the progress of plant-based vaccine candidates as well as therapeutics in pre-clinical and clinical trials. In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the recent developments in the generation of plant-based vaccines, therapeutic/drug molecules, monoclonal antibodies and phytochemicals to preclude and combat infections caused by SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 viruses as well as other important viruses. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Srividhya Venkataraman
Guest Editor

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• phytochemicals
• vaccines
• therapeutics
• VNPs
• VLPs
• Mabs
• molecular pharming
• viruses
• SARS-CoV-2
• regulatory issues