Leveraging Plant-Based Protein Expression: Implications for Biomanufacturing and Biodefense

Excerpt from the Press Release:

Although a 1972 United Nations (UN) resolution prohibits member states from using biological weapons on military personnel and civilians (1, 2), a lack of robust verification protocols has enabled several countries to develop such agents (3). Several groups that the UN considers to be global terrorist organizations also are establishing bioweapon capabilities (4). Meanwhile, potentially pandemic infectious diseases continue to pose public-health threats. Consequently, research remains active in vaccine and therapeutic development for bioterrorism mitigation and other biodefense applications.

Recombinant antibodies (rAbs) represent a relatively new and highly promising set of tools in that context. In a 2011 review, Froude et al. explain that such products could bolster biosecurity in several ways (3). Because rAbs have different mechanisms of action (MoAs) from those of antibiotics, rAb products circumvent concerns about bioagents that are engineered for antimicrobial resistance. In some cases, antibodies could provide prophylactic effects despite their relatively short half-lives. And if nothing else, rAbs could work synergistically with existing small-molecule treatment regimens.

When Froude et al. reviewed the drug-development landscape for biodefense-related rAbs in 2011, several clinical and commercial advances already had been made for treating Bacillus anthracis (anthrax) exposure. The writers attribute those successes, in part, to significant US-government investment in biodefense following the mailing of anthrax spores to members of the US Congress and news media in 2001.

Click the button below to read the entire Press Release:

Continue Reading The Press Release