Researchers have developed a plant-based cancer vaccine able to start the body's immune response and to adapt to a patient's specific tumor type, says a recent study. The tobacco plant, which is blamed for million of cancer cases, could be the remedy to treat one form of the disease.

The study carried out by the National Academy of Sciences puts forward the idea that the plant could be used to fight a form of lymphoma, a type of solid neoplasm that originates in lymphocytes.

A research team from Stanford University in California is using the plant as factories for an antibody substance specific to the cells which produce follicular B-cell lymphoma, a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. These antibodies are put into a patient recently diagnosed with the disease, to prepare the body's immune system to attack the cells which carry them.

Specialists from UK say that in order to determine if the cancer vaccine is successful, additional research should be done. If it really works, the body would be able to recognize lymphoma cells and annihilate them. But a problem would be encountered, as every person’s antibodies are different.

To this point, only a small number of patients have undergone the experiment, to see if any side-effects of using the plant-based cancer vaccine appeared. Therefore, its ability to combat the deadly disease is unsure.

Every single year, an estimated 16,000 individuals are diagnosed with follicular B-cell lymphoma. At first, physicians examine the patients to see if their cancer aggravates, and then treat them with toxic chemotherapy, to kill cancer cells.