The Potential of Recombinant Proteins to Treat Disease

An article in the Biological Sciences Review (Volume 23, Number 4) grabbed my attention today, although it was published in April 2014. Nonetheless I feel it is very relevant. It was about how recombinant proteins can be used to treat certain chronic diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis are just a named couple.

I don't feel I should need to go into all the theory about protein synthesis, but in case you weren't sure, below is a very useful visual intuition:



Recombinant proteins are synthesised by manipulating the cell and almost 'tricking' the cell to making the desired proteins we require. Usually this is achieved by introducing some (foreign) DNA into the cell which codes for the functional protein, then the normal 'protein expression' is able to follow using ribosomes. One example of this would be insulin protein being synthesised by bacteria by using it's plasmid as a vector. One thing to note is that if mammalian cells and bacterial cells were to be used, the protein product many not necessarily be identical as the protein folding procedure may slightly differ for eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells.

Examples of recombinant proteins include insulin as mentioned and therapeutic antibodies.

What I find very exciting is that these antibodies are able to target specific cells - you may have heard of monoclonal antibodies under the same context. This could mean the targeting of cancer cells, as cancer cells have a unique antigen on their plasmalemma. Therefore therapeutic antibodies can be engineered to target these cells. The formation of an antigen-antibody complex can result in a number of consequences: inhibition of growth, immobilisation (pathogenic cells) and detoxification.


One interesting idea from the article explains how using therapeutic antibodies may help to lessen the pain for individuals with chronic diseases such as arthritis, by inhibiting the activity of certain ion channels in nerve cells.

Ion channels are transmembrane (intergal) proteins that allow passage of ions from one cell to another - pain signals are achieved in this way. Some rare individuals have equally the rare inability to feel pain. This condition was explained by scientists who saw that there was a rare mutation in the gene SCN9A (this gene codes for the synthesis of these ion channels). Therefore using this fascinating occurrence there is the potential of using specific therapeutic antibodies to target these particular ion channels. The result of this will inevitably be a reduction in the number of functioning ion channels.

I appreciate that this technique may not cure the disease for good, but this would be a major breakthrough in pain management for chronic diseases. These conditions have dramatic effects on an individuals quality of life, so lessening the pain can improve their mental health.


It would be a major achievement to get this treatment underway. However like with any drug rigorous testing over many stages must be carried out first.

I look forward to seeing the progress of this idea in the future…

Credit to Katharine Cain, postdoctoral scientist at UCB pharmaceutical company, for the original article.