Feasibility of antibody production in plants for human therapeutic use.
From the description above, the diversity of antibodies as a class of potential therapeutic agents is weighed against the constraints of developing any therapeutic molecule. Although much of this limit is specific to the antibody design, plant-based production systems have a potential to impact commercialization by making larger volume products manageable, with lower up-front capital requirements. Due to their novel glycosylation pattern (Faye et al. 1989), plants at present may not create antibodies with all the functions of mammalian-glycosylated antibodies (Wright and Morrison 1994). This is not a limit for all current products. Success is dependent on fusing the efficient agriculture infrastructure with the narrow tolerances required for a drug production system. Further validation of plants as a production system will come as more therapeutics from plants follow the corn-produced material through human clinical trials.
Integrated Protein Technologies/Agracetus Campus, Monsanto Co., Middleton, WI 53562, USA.
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D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D011994:Recombinant Proteins