Expression of recombinant Hirudin in transgenic mice milk driven by the goat beta-casein promoter

Chon-Ho Yen1, Chi-Kai Yang, I-Chung Chen

  • 1Division of Biotechnology, Animal Technology Institute Taiwan, Chunan, Miaoli, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Biotechnology Journal
|June 11, 2008
PubMed

Hirudin, isolated from the leech Hirudo medicinalis, inhibits thrombin directly and several expression systems have been used to produce recombinant Hirudin (rHirudin) for pharmaceutical purposes. A DNA fragment containing the Hirudin coding sequence and goat beta-casein secretion signal was chemically synthesized in this study. The synthetic DNA then was further constructed into a goat beta-casein expression vector for mouse transgenesis. Four lines of transgenic mice were successfully developed and one line showed a meaningful anti-thrombin activity of 40,000 anti-thrombin units (ATU)/mL in their milk. In this animal line, Hirudin mRNA was found in samples of uterus and kidney with insignificant anti-thrombin activity (