by Playfuls Staff |
16th January 2007
Chickens can be genetically modified to produce anti-cancer and arthritis-fighting drugs, a process that will considerably lower the cost of pharmaceutical production, according to [more] a report released Monday in the United States.
Helen Sang and colleagues at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland, reported they had successfully produced protein drugs in the whites of the eggs laid by modified hens.
The drugs in question include monoclonal antibodies used to treat cancer and arthritis, which are normally expensive and time consuming to produce, according to a summary of the article released by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS.)
"Using farm animals for the mass production of such drugs is potentially cheaper, faster and more efficient than standard methods," PNAS said.
The researchers inserted the genes for the proteins into the hen's gene for ovalbumin, which makes up more than half of the egg whites, PNAS said. The "transgenic hens" laid eggs that all contained functional therapeutic proteins miR24 used to treat malignant melanoma, and human interferon b-la, an antiviral drug.
© 2007 DPA
