Non-medicinal drugs of chickens modified by the gene

Researchers at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh genetically modified chickens to produce human proteins in their eggs.

They hope that the project will one day result in life-saving drugs, much cheaper to manufacture.

The team has modified the genomes of chickens so that their eggs contain large amounts of high quality protein.

According to scientists, only three eggs contain a clinically significant dose.

Initially, the proteins will be used in research, but laboratory tests have already shown that they work at least as well as equivalent drugs.

Protein-based therapies such as Herceptin and Avastin cancer treatments can be effective where traditional medicines fail, but they are extremely expensive.

The new research – a collaboration between the institute and the university's spin-off company, Roslin Technologies – suggests the promise of a much cheaper production process.

We meet the drug makers of tomorrow in a secure institute of the Institute.

Dozens of transgenic chickens are placed in rows of spacious pens.

Their job is pretty simple: lay 300 eggs a year.

There are bads here too, a surprise for a city dweller like me.

Their goal is twofold. Chickens do not lay unless there is a rooster in the vicinity.

In addition, males must make more transgenic chickens.

These creatures are not clones. New generations of protein producers are manufactured in a conventional and organic way.

Professor Helen Sang of the Institute says it's a cost-effective way to increase production:

"If you want more eggs, you just need more birds."

"That's why, in this pen, we have a rooster – and it can produce a lot of kids in a short time.

"So, we can produce a lot of hens in a short time if we want to increase the supply of this drug."

In a laboratory far removed from the hen house cacophony, Dr. Lissa Herron of Roslin Technologies makes a brown egg tray that will adorn any breakfast table.

But these will never enter the food chain. "At first, it's pretty old fashioned," she says.

"We just broke the egg.I have become an expert at breaking eggs over the years."

The golden yellow is set aside unnecessarily.

It's the egg white that contains the treasure: large amounts of important proteins on the medical level.

"The production of these proteins is really expensive," she says, "because it's not enough to synthesize them in a chemistry lab.

"You need a living system to make them because proteins are very large, very complex molecules and they need all the machinery of a cell to make and replicate them properly."

Until now, chickens have been genetically modified to produce two types of proteins.

One is the macrophage-CSF. It is being developed as a therapy stimulating the repair of damaged tissue.

It is produced in human and porcine versions.

The other one is called Alfa-2A interferon.

"It's a native human protein in our body, expressed as part of our immune system," said Dr. Herron.

"It has antiviral properties.It has also been discovered that it has certain anti-cancer properties.

"It's a protein that's used in the clinic today – or for a long time – to treat hepatitis and some cancers."

Veterinary Medicine

As with all research on promising treatments, a cautionary statement is required. It may take decades of further research and testing before a breakthrough becomes a drug.

However, treatments for so-called "orphan" rare diseases can be accelerated – and animal medicines tend to reach the market even more quickly.

By reducing the costs of protein therapies, the new technique could create affordable treatments for farm animals and pets, opening a new market for the veterinary sector.

Dr. Herron knows how effective protein therapies can be: she has received an existing medication against inflammatory bowel disease.

"It was a pretty amazing thing," she says. "I went there from Friday, when I was probably going to have the whole intestine removed, to Monday to go home.

"It's pretty impressive with some of these drugs.

"Hope we can get them and treat some of these very difficult diseases."

The team is confident that it can expand the range of proteins that chickens can pose.

The technique used to introduce the new genes into chicken DNA used a lentivirus to deliver the payload.

It has been established for a long time, but involves trial and error before the genes find the desired target.

The new CRISPR / Cas method should allow much more accurate editing.

The researchers received strategic funding from the Biotechnology and Bioscience Research Council and published their results in the journal BMC Biotechnology.

Chickens themselves are not affected by the presence of human proteins in their systems.

Living in conditions superior to those of hens in battery, they lay as usual.

European regulations against genetically modified organisms in the food chain mean that neither they nor their eggs will end up on your plate.

But they could be pioneers in producing better and cheaper drugs.

Cheaper because they literally work for the chicken's diet.