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Researchers have developed genetically modified chickens that can lay eggs containing proteins used to fight arthritis and certain cancers.
They hope that this discovery will someday lead to the manufacture of a life-saving drug at a cost.
At first, proteins will be used in research, but laboratory tests have already shown that they work at least as well as equivalent drugs.
This new research was developed by the Roslin Institute of University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in partnership with Roslin Technologies.
According to researcher Lissa Herron of Roslin Technologies, chickens do not suffer and are more "pampered" than the animals on the farm.
"They live in very large pens, hydrated and looked after daily by highly qualified technicians, they lead a very comfortable life."
"For the chicken, it's like she's putting a normal egg This did not affect her health, simply continue what they already do. "
Scientists have already shown that animals such as goats, rabbits and genetically modified chickens can be used to produce therapeutically valuable proteins in their milk or eggs.
But researchers say the new approach is more efficient, produces better results and is more cost effective than previous attempts.
Economics
"Production from chicken eggs can cost 10 to 100 times less than factories, so I think we will achieve at least 10 times less value the total cost of manufacturing, "Herron said.
The largest savings come from the fact that poultry houses are much cheaper to build and operate than
Many diseases are caused by the fact that our body does not naturally produce enough of a certain substance chemical or certain proteins. Health problems of this type can be controlled with the help of drugs containing the missing protein.
Herron and his colleagues have managed to reduce these costs by inserting a human gene into the DNA part of the hens responsible for the egg white.
These drugs are synthetically produced by pharmaceutical companies and can be very expensive to manufacture. Two types of protein
After breaking the eggs, scientists leave the yolk aside. "
" These proteins are too expensive to produce, "says Herron," because you can not synthesize them in a chemistry lab. "
" You need a living system to make them, because proteins are very large and very complex molecules and they need all the material of a cell to produce them properly. "
Up to now, chickens have been genetically modified to produce two types of proteins essential to the immune system
One of them is interferon alpha 2a, which has potent effects antiviral and anticancer drugs, and the other is the macrophage of CSF, which is developed as a stimulating therapy for the regeneration of damaged tissues.
Three eggs are enough to produce a dose of the drug and hens can lay eggs To 300 eggs per year Researchers believe that if they have enough chickens, they will be able to produce the drug on a commercial scale.
The Development of Human Health Drugs, Assorted of all necessary regulatory procedures, will take between 10 and 20 years, researchers hope to use chickens to develop drugs for animals.
This includes drugs that the immune system of farm animals as an alternative to antibiotics, which would reduce the risk of developing new strains of treatment-resistant superbugs. . According to Herron, there is potential for using the healing properties of the CSF macrophage to treat pets.
"For example, we can use it to regenerate the liver or kidneys of a damaged pet." We still do not produce drugs for humans, but this study shows that production Chicken is commercially viable, "he said.Proteins suitable for studies of new drugs and other applications in biotechnology," said Professor Helen Sang of the Roslin Institute of the United States. University of Edinburgh
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