Table 2.
Biopharmaceutical proteins expressed via the plant nuclear genome (for full length table see Online Supplementary Table S2)
| Pharmaceutical protein | Expression system | Expression level | Functional evaluation | Refs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human growth hormone (hGH) | Rice suspension cells | 57 mg l−1 | The biological activity of shGH accumulated in the transgenic rice cell suspension culture was similar to that of the E. coli-derived recombinant hGH, as shown by proliferation of Nb2 node lymphoma cells | [88] |
| Mouse interleukin-12 (IL-12) | Tomato leaf and fruit | 2.7-7.3 and 1-3.4 μg g−1 FW | Biologically active in vitro. The plant-produced mIL-12 induced the secretion of IFNγ by T cells | [89] |
| Human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) | Tobacco | 0.09-0.3% TSP | Plant-produced hEGF significantly stimulated Vero E6 cell expansion and proliferation similar to commercial hEGF products | [90] |
| Human basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) | Soybean | 2.3% TSP | Mitogenic assay demonstrated that bFGF stimulated Balb/c 3T3 cells to proliferate in a dose-dependent manner, indicting similar biological activity as native bFGF | [91] |
| Human acid β-glucosidase | Tobacco seeds | Not reported | Plant-derived GCase was taken up by fibroblasts of a Gaucher Type-II patient and lacks potentially immunogenic glycans | [33] |
| Human glucocerebrosidase enzyme (GCD) | Carrot cells | Not reported | Recombinant GCD in transgenic plant cells is biologically active. Phase I clinical trial have shown that no clinical or laboratory evidence of any significant innate or humoral immune reactions; and phase III clinical trial is currently ongoing | [8] |
| Human cytokine granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) | Sugarcane | Undetectable-0.02% TSP | Human bone marrow cells (TF-1), which require GM-CSF for cell division, proliferated when growth media was supplemented with transgenic sugarcane extracts and had identical activity levels | [92] |
| Human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) | Rice | 1.2-1.3% TSP | Rice seed-derived hGMCSF induces proliferation of TF-1 cells similar to E. coli-derived hGM-CSF | [93] |
| Macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF)1 | Tobacco | 0.02-1.92% TSP | Plant-derived M-CSFsR inhibits colony formation of J6-1 cells | [94] |
| Human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF) | Rice suspension cells | 0.7% TSP | Plant-derived hG-CSF supports proliferation of the AML-193 cells similar to commercial E. coli-derived hG-CSF | [95] |
| Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP2) | Tobacco | 0.02% TSP | Application of hBMP2 to mouse C2C12 cell line significantly increased cell ALP activity but lower than commercial rhBMP2 | [96] |
| Human a-1-antitrypsin | Tomato | 0.44-1.55% TSP | Biologically active, showing high specific activity and efficient inhibition of elastase activity | [97] |
| Human IA-2 (IA-2ic), a diabetes-associated autoantigen | Tobacco (Transient) | 0.5% TSP | Plant-derived IA-2ic protein is specifically recognized by human IA-2ic autoantibodies | [35] |
| Human fibroblast growth factor 8 isoform b(FGF8b) | Tobacco (Transient) | 90-150 μg g−1 FW | Plant-expressed FGF8b effectively increased the rate of cell proliferation of NIH3T3 as bacterially expressed mouse FGF8b | [36] |