Plant-made trastuzumab (herceptin) inhibits HER2/Neu+ cell proliferation and retards tumor growth.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Plant biotechnology provides a valuable contribution to global health, in part because it can decrease the cost of pharmaceutical products. Breast cancer can now be successfully treated by a humanized monoclonal antibody (mAb), trastuzumab (Herceptin). A course of treatment, however, is expensive and requires repeated administrations of the mAb. Here we used an Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression system to produce trastuzumab in plant cells.

Methodology/principal findings

We describe the cloning and expression of gene constructs in Nicotiana benthamiana plants using intron-optimized Tobacco mosaic virus- and Potato virus X-based vectors encoding, respectively, the heavy and light chains of trastuzumab. Full-size antibodies extracted and purified from plant

SUBMITTER: Komarova TV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3048398 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature