Why choosing transgenic animals milk for recombinant protein or vaccine production?
The mammary gland is an organ naturally designed to produce complex glycosylated proteins in high concentration (140 g/l for rabbit milk) in order to feed newborn rabbits. Mammary gland epithelial cells possess the machinery needed to properly fold and assemble complex glycosylated proteins. Mammary gland epithelial cells perform post-translational modifications such as glycosylation and gamma carboxylation. For many recombinant proteins of human origin these post-translational modifications are essential to guaranty proper biological activity and acceptable pharmacokinetics.
