Production and bioengineering of recombinant pharmaceuticals

Abstract

Most therapeutic proteins on the market are obtained recombinantly from well-established production platforms. Furthermore, hundreds of recombinant proteins are already in clinical trials for the therapy of cancers, infections, and other diseases. Recent advances in the tools and strategies used in microbial production and purification processes have been highly beneficial for developing new bioproducts, and thus for further evolving the biopharmaceutical industry. Due to their simplicity, high-yield, and scalability, microbial-based expression systems, mainly the bacterium Escherichia coli and the yeast Pichia pastoris, have been widely explored for producing and bioengineering recombinant proteins and peptides for biomedical applications. The immense diversity of research studies on this subject anticipates a sharp increase of novel recombinant pharmaceuticals. This chapter focuses on recombinant approaches used for obtaining Phage Display-derived proteins/peptides, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), phage-encoded endolysin enzymes, and lectins, which were selected as case studies. AMPs and endolysins have emerged in recent years as effective alternatives to conventional antibiotics. On the other hand, lectins have well-demonstrated potential as anticancer agents and as antimicrobial/viral tools. A succinct overview on the main production and purification strategies employed for each case, along with the latest advances in producing hosts, will be presented. In addition, the application of the Phage Display technique for identifying new therapeutic protein/peptides and their potential uses in the health field will be highlighted.