Mammalian cells engineered to produce longer-lived versions of therapeutic protein erythropoietin
Wednesday, June 4, 2014 - 09:20
in Health & Medicine
Erythropoietin (EPO)—a key regulator of red blood cell production—is widely used for treating certain cancers and anemia induced by chronic kidney disease. However, the time that EPO resides in the bloodstream depends on the extent to which it is modified by sugar chains containing sialic acid. This modification, known as sialylation, prevents liver cells from taking up and destroying glycosylated EPO (see image). EPO fully modified with sugars containing sialic acid persists in the bloodstream for about one hour—five times longer than unsialylated EPO.