It's a well-known fact that tobacco is related to many cancer cases, but now researchers are suggesting it may actually be the key to treating one form of the disease! This is great - if a bit confusing - news for baby boomers, who can be especially hard-hit by different types of cancer as they age.

US scientists used the plant to "grow" key components of a cancer vaccine, and the study - tackled by researchers at Stanford - suggests they could be used to tackle a form of lymphoma. The plants are being used as factories for an antibody chemical which is known to be characteristic to the cells which cause follicular B-cell lymphoma, a type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

These antibodies created by the plant are put into a patient that has ideally been recently diagnosed with the disease, to help the body's immune system attack any cell carrying lymphoma. This research means that the body could then recognize these cells and destroy the ones that are carrying the disease.

This idea - in itself - has been around for a while, and attempts have already been made to grow these antibodies inside animal cells, but a plant-grown vaccine would be much cheaper and could potentially carry less risk to the patient, as animal cells might hold unknown viruses.

An interesting - and potentially better and safer - way to possibly treat cancer in the future, and all from a plant that may have been thought to have little redeeming value.