Lower-cost manufacturing for the production of many protein drugs by altering hens' genetic make-up

Roslin Institute in Cancer Breakthrough

20-Jul-2005

Scientists at Edinburgh's Roslin Institute have made a breakthrough in their battle to create designer eggs which may help to produce drugs to fight cancer.

By altering hens' genetic make-up, the team has caused the synthesis in egg white of a complex protein that may prove effective in treating melanoma. It has been identified as a potential cancer therapy by an American drugs company called Viragen in collaboration with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

The technology is expected to offer a lower-cost manufacturing alternative for the production of many protein drugs, with additional potential advantages in the quality of the products.

Cell-free protein synthesis is potential lifesaver

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The Project's scientific leader, Roslin Senior Scientist, Dr. Helen Sang, said: "We have long believed that this joint effort would develop an avian system capable of efficiently and economically producing human biopharmaceuticals, and with this major milestone achievement, I am even more convinced that we are developing an elite manufacturing platform that should emerge as a method of choice for many products.

"We previously published results demonstrating ubiquitous expression throughout the entire bird. This latest result indicates that we have now been able to target the expression so that the functional protein is synthesized as a component of the egg white."

Viragen and Roslin confirmed qualitative and quantitative detection, and recovery of humanized antibody from the eggs. The analysis indicates that the expression levels measured are significantly higher than any previously published results for a therapeutic protein produced from an avian transgenic line.

Dr. Sang added, "While I am extremely pleased, I still believe we can further maximize this system's value.

"With our collective knowledge and experience with these transgenic models, we are initiating additional studies using a further optimized construct that should significantly increase expression levels, even beyond these excellent results."

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