Uses for Recombinant Protein Drugs - Biotechnology and Your Health: Pharmaceutical Applications - page 76

peginterferon alfa-2b (Pegasys ® and Peg-INTRON ® ), also produced
in E. coli , are alpha interferons linked to polyethylene glycol chains
to lengthen the time the protein stays in the blood 20-fold, so that
injections need be given only once a week rather than every other
day. A chemical drug to inhibit hepatitis virus production is usually
given along with the interferon to help keep the number of viruses
down and to slow liver damage.
Suppressing Inflammation
Cells and proteins of the immune system can trigger a set of
responses that together are called inflammation . Inflamed tissue is
warm, red, swollen, and painful because an injury or a wound calls
in cells that make small blood vessels swell and leak blood fluids.
Inflammation is what creates the redness, warmth, swelling, and
pain. How does inflammation happen? The white blood cells that
gather at the site of the threat produce several proteins that not only
signal to other white blood cells but can also damage surrounding
cells and tissues. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune
disease in which immune system cells attack tissues in the joints. This
attack triggers inflammation, causing pain, swelling, and, if left
unchecked, crippling damage to the joints of the hands, arms, and
legs. The nonprescription anti-inflammatory drugs aspirin and
ibuprofen, along with several prescription anti-inflammatory drugs,
are sometimes enough to treat rheumatoid arthritis, but in severe
cases, these drugs may be unable to control the damage. Several
recombinant proteins that target inflammation are used to treat RA.
All are directed at proteins that play a part in inflammation.
Etanercept (Enbrel ® ) is an engineered protein that combines the
tail of an antibody with a part of the receptor for tumor necrosis
factor ( TNF ). TNF is one of the cell-damaging proteins involved in
inflammation. It got its name because the first thing scientists
discovered that it did was kill cancer cells. Killing cancer cells is only
one of its skills, however, and that may be something that happens