Recombinant Proteins, Genetic Engineering, Biopharmaceuticals, Human Growth Hormone (hGH)

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	Recombinant Proteins Proteins produced by genes transferred into selected host cells by genetic engineering are called recombinant proteins since they are based on recombinant DNA technology. Recombinant proteins form an important component of biopharmaceuticals, i.e., biotechnology products having pharmaceutical applications. A large number (nearly 2 dozen) of recombinant proteins are being produced in mammalian cell cultures, some of which, viz., human growth hormone (hGH), tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), erythropoietin and blood clotting factor VIII, are already in therapeutic use.
The other products are in advanced stages of development. The host cells used for large scale production of the various recombinant proteins are Chinese hamster ovary cell line (CHO), baby hamster kidney line BHK, mouse mammary tumour line C127, mouse myeloma cell lines and mammalian cell lines. The use of animal cell lines has been made possible by the following developments in cell culture technology: (1) development of culture systems permitting large scale culture of animal cells at high densities, and (2) development of media, which minimise or even obviate the use of serum (serum interferes with downstream processing, i.e., separation and purification of the desired product).
2. The protein products are readily secreted into the medium, which makes their recovery much easier. 3. The patterns of folding and disulphide bridge formation in the recombinant proteins are similar to those of the natural proteins. 4. The multimeric proteins are also assembled correctly.