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CHICKEN “PHARMING” YIELDS EGGS CONTAINING THERAPEUTIC PROTEINS FOR POTENTIAL USE IN TREATING MALIGNANT MELANOMA AND OTHER CANCERS, ACCORDING TO GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH OUT OF SCOTLAND
PSA Expert Available to Comment on the Work of Lillico et al, and to Discuss the Potential for Making the Chicken a Bioreactor for Producing Commercial Quantities of Therapeutic Proteins and, as a Consequence, Cheaper Cancer-Fighting Drugs
SAVOY, IL (March 7, 2007) – Patients with skin cancer may one day have access to cheaper drugs for treatment, thanks to the work of a team of scientists in Scotland on developing transgenic chickens whose eggs contain proteins that may be the key to developing new cancer-fighting drugs and other therapeutic proteins. The team’s achievement also marks the latest in a long line of discoveries based on poultry research that have benefited human health care, according to the Poultry Science Association (PSA).
Researchers from the Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, Scotland, announced in February that they had developed transgenic hens which lay eggs containing two kinds of therapeutic protein, one of which has the potential to be used in treating a form of skin cancer.
In a paper published in the February 6, 2007 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)1, the team, led by Dr. Helen Sang, details its use of lentiviral vectors, a tool for manipulating the avian genome, in engineering transgenic hens which lay eggs containing miR24, an antibody with the potential for treating malignant melanoma. The team also produced hens whose eggs contain human interferon β-1a, which can prevent the replication of viruses in cells.
Dr. James N. Petitte, a professor of poultry science at North Carolina State University and a member of PSA, co-authored a commentary on the significance of the team’s findings, which appeared in the same issue of PNAS2. He is available to speak with reporters on the chicken’s potential for becoming an inexpensive bioreactor for the production of commercial quantities of therapeutic proteins in eggs – proteins which might then be used in anti-cancer drugs.
Cancer-Fighting Eggs
The Scottish team’s work represents a collaboration between the Roslin Institute and two biotechnology firms, Oxford Biomedica and Viragen (Scotland).
Said Dr. Petitte: “It has taken more than 25 years – since the emergence of recombinant DNA technology – to develop the ability to engineer transgenic chickens. The work of the team at the Roslin Institute is a culmination of those efforts, and represents a significant step toward developing an efficient system for making transgenic hens that produce eggs with high levels of commercially relevant proteins using a lentiviral vector.”
“The ability to derive key proteins needed for drug development from the eggs of commercial flocks of hens has the potential to lower the cost of those drugs to cancer patients,” added Dr. Petitte.
The Chicken as a Historical Model for Human Health Care Research
Dr. Petitte is also available to speak to the history of the chicken as an important model for additional research relating to human health care, including how it has provided the basis for:
- Understanding the chemical processes relating to vision
- Gaining our first insights into tumor viruses (e.g., Rous sarcoma virus)
- Understanding the differences between T and B cells
- Discovering essential vitamins
To arrange a conversation with Dr. Petitte, please contact Nathan May at 212-399-4036 or nathan@nathanmaycommunications.com.
About PSA
The Poultry Science Association (PSA) is a global scientific society dedicated to the discovery and dissemination of knowledge generated by poultry research – knowledge that enhances human and animal health and well-being and provides for the ethical, sustainable, and economical production of food. Founded in 1908, PSA has a global membership of about 3,500. For more information, go to www.poultryscience.org
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