Production of biopharmaceuticals in transgenic plant cell suspension cultures

Abstract

Transgenic plant cell cultures for the production of biopharmaceuticals including monoclonal antibodies, recombinant proteins have been regarded as an alternative platform in addition to traditional microbial fermentation and mammalian cell cultures. Plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs) have several advantages such as safety, cost-effectiveness, scalability and possibility of complex post-translational modifications. Increasing demand for the quantity and diversity of pharmaceutical proteins may accelerate the industrialization of PMP technology. Up to date, there is no plant-made recombinant protein approved by USFDA (Food and Drug Administration) for human therapeutic uses due to the technological bottlenecks of low expression level and slight differences in glycosylation. Regarding expression levels, it is possible to improve the productivity by using stronger promoter and optimizing culture processes. In terms of glycosylation, humanization has been attempted in many ways to reduce immune responses and to enhance the efficacy as well as stability. In this review article, all these respects of transgenic plant cell cultures were summarized. In addition, we also discuss the general characteristics of plant cell suspension cultures related with bioreactor design and operation to achieve high productivity in large scale which could be a key to successful commercialization of PMPs.

Effect of nitrogen source on biomass and bioactive compound production in submerged cultures of Eleutherococcus koreanum nakai adventitious roots

“…Increasing demand for plant‐based bioactive compounds in biopharmaceuticals, health foods, cosmetic products, and pigments has stimulated the development of methods such as chemical synthesis, semisynthesis, and in vitro culture to produce large quantities of bioactive compounds with activities similar to those of natural bioactive compounds 1, 2. Since the beginning of in vitro tissue culturing in the 1940s, plant cell culture and tissue culture have advanced toward the production of uniform bioactive compounds and the establishment of pilot‐scale production systems for commercialization 3, 4.…”