Eggs from genetically engineered chickens containing cancer-fighting proteins

You may have heard the children's story about the goose that lays the golden eggs, but have you heard the true story of genetically modified chickens laying eggs that fight cancer? Researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom worked on this latest project.

After splicing a human gene into chicken DNA, the researchers found that the eggs laid by the modified gene chickens contained high levels of cancer treatment proteins in their egg whites. This process had no noticeable negative effect on the chickens. This could represent a new method to produce these valuable proteins in a way that is up to 100 times cheaper than the current cost of producing them in a plant.

"Proteins are widely used in research and are also an important clbad of drugs. Known examples are insulin, interferon and monoclonal antibodies such as Herceptin and Humira, "told Digital Trends Dr. Lissa Herron, one of the project's researchers. . "These medications treat illnesses that sometimes stop – or have never started – to respond to traditional small molecule drugs, such as autoimmune diseases and cancer. Protein drugs are expensive to manufacture because they can not be synthesized chemically in the laboratory. They need a biological system to produce them, such as bacteria or cells derived from mammals. "

Of these two options, bacteria was the least expensive previous protein production method. However, this method is unable to produce more complex proteins such as antibodies. At the same time, mammalian cells are an expensive alternative, as their production requires specialized facilities and specialized growth conditions.

"We hope that by using animals already producing large amounts of protein in easily accessible formats, such as milk and eggs, we will be able to reduce the overall cost of producing these drugs," said Herron. . "In addition, some proteins have characteristics that make them difficult to make cost-effectively in cells, but that the chicken can easily do. These are the proteins that we will target. "

Researchers first consider selling their proteins to other researchers. They then hope to use this discovery to develop protein-based medicines for animal health, followed by those for humans. "The animal health market right now can not afford most protein-based drugs, because of their cost, so we hope to change that," said Herron.

An article describing the research was recently published in the journal BMC Biotechnology.