TRANSGENIC PLANTS AS SUSTAINABLE FACTORIES FOR BIOPHARMACEUTICALS.

ALVAREZ, MA

Ciudad de México, México

Congreso; First International Congress on Biotechnology and Bioengineering. International Initiatives for Sustainable Development.; 2008

CINVESTAV

Traditionally, the production of recombinant proteins with a pharmaceutical application has been carried out using cultures of animal cells and microorganisms. Nevertheless, in the last years it has been evident that the present world-wide fermentative capacity will not cover the constantly growing market demands for biopharmaceuticals. Plants appeared then as alternative and competitive expression system for large-scale protein production. Choosing the most appropriate method requires case-by-case analysis. There are several advantages associated to the production of recombinant proteins in plants (molecular farming). In particular, the capacity of plant cells to synthesize, to process and to drive animal proteins in a similar way to the natural production system is one of their attractive benefits. On the other hand, plants do not carry mammalian viruses, blood-borne pathogens, oncogenes or bacterial toxins. There are other additional benefits associated to them such as technical simplicity, and security, as well as the cost, compared to those produced in transgenic animals or in animal cell cultures. However, there are worrisome aspects for the protein production in plants, which are linked to regulatory aspects as containment of genetically modified plants for avoiding their propagation in the environment and the contamination of products with mycotoxins, pesticides and weed killers. An alternative arises then with the use of in vitro plant cells cultures (suspension cell cultures) as biological agents. These processes offer the same advantages of production in whole plants without some of the disadvantages mentioned before. When producing recombinant proteins in bioreactors it is possible to work in controlled, defined and sterile conditions with simple protocols of purification and also with comparable yields to those of the whole plant. It is then possible to work under certified conditions of good manufacturing practices (GMP) and good laboratory practices (GLP) which is important when a therapeutic protein is needed. Also, these are closed production systems that allow the optimization of space with a maximum of efficiency in the transference and use of energy. The production of recombinant proteins by plant cell suspensions in bioreactors is an approach with undoubted advantages of bio-security. Most of all, its entire source is not animal or bacterial, it avoids the above mentioned environmental risks and furthermore plant cells in in vitro cultures endure time.