Chapter 8 - Plant-Based Biotechnological Products With Their Production Host, Modes of Delivery Systems, and Stability Testing

Abstract

Through genetic engineering (GE), plants can now be used to produce a variety of proteins, including mammalian antibodies, blood substitutes, vaccines, and other therapeutic entities. Recently, the production of foreign proteins in GE plants has become a viable alternative to conventional production systems such as microbial fermentation or mammalian cell culture. Plant-derived proteins are particularly attractive, since they are free of human diseases and mammalian viral vectors. Plants offer the potential for efficient, large-scale production of recombinant proteins with increased freedom from contaminating human pathogens. Expression systems used for this purpose are Escherichia coli, Bacillus, yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), fungi (Aspergillus), animal cells, plant cells, and insect cells. The most common biopharmaceuticals produced by recombinant DNA technology are cytokines and other proteins of therapeutic interest. Plant-based biopharmaceuticals can be delivered to humans through various modes. The stability of plant-based biopharmaceuticals is a big concern and it can be achieved by physical and chemical stability methods. This chapter describes status of current biopharmaceuticals with their various stability issues and implication regarding their suitable drug delivery systems.