Insulin from genetically modified plants

Canadian biotech company SemBioSys Genetics has announced the start of phase I clinical trials of human insulin derived from transgenic plants.

In a group of 30 healthy volunteers, the effect of the introduction of an experimental drug under the working name SBS-1000 was compared with the effect of two recombinant insulin preparations obtained in the traditional way in recent decades – with the help of genetically modified bacteria.

SemBioSys specialists have integrated the human insulin gene into the genome of Carthamus tinctorius – safflower dye (aka American, or wild, saffron, or dye thistle), an annual plant of the family of compound flowers.

The amount of proinsulin synthesized in the seeds of the plant turned out to be sufficient for industrial processing. For the formation of insulin proper, the precursor protein has to be acted on by an enzyme that cuts out the excess part of the molecule - just like in the synthesis of insulin in pancreatic cells.

Preliminary studies, including preclinical studies on rodents and primates, have shown that SBS–1000 is no different from human insulin. At the same time, its production should be much cheaper, since it does not require the use of fermenters with bacterial cultures.

In a press release, the company's management expresses confidence that the results of the study will show the full biological equivalence of SBS-1000 to existing drugs. The end of the first stage of testing is expected in the first half of 2009.

Especially for environmentalists, the developers emphasize that safflower is a rare plant, and it has almost no wild relatives in North America. This reduces the possibility of leakage of transgenes from the plantation of modified plants into natural biocenoses.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru13.01.2009