Biopharmaceutical discovery and production in yeast

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Molecular Biology
• Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing

Background:

• Selecting expression platforms for recombinant biopharmaceuticals requires balancing product titers and critical quality attributes, such as post-translational modifications.
• While microbial, yeast, plant, and mammalian systems have distinct characteristics, recent innovations have minimized yeast's inherent drawbacks.
• Yeast expression platforms are crucial for both current biopharmaceutical supply chains and the development of new therapeutics.

Purpose of the Study:

• This review discusses recent advancements in yeast-based expression systems for biopharmaceuticals.
• It highlights the benefits of employing glycoengineered yeast as a production host and in drug discovery.
• The review aims to illustrate how these developments are enhancing yeast platforms' role in biopharmaceutical discovery and lead candidate selection.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of recent advancements in yeast expression systems.
• Analysis of glycoengineering techniques applied to yeast for biopharmaceutical production.
• Evaluation of yeast platforms in the context of biopharmaceutical discovery and lead optimization.

Main Results:

• Recent technological progress has significantly improved yeast expression capabilities, mitigating historical limitations.
• Glycoengineered yeast demonstrates considerable advantages for producing complex biopharmaceuticals with desired quality attributes.
• Yeast platforms are evolving into sophisticated tools for identifying and selecting biopharmaceutical lead candidates.

Conclusions:

• Yeast expression systems are increasingly viable and advantageous for biopharmaceutical production.
• Glycoengineering further enhances yeast's utility, particularly for achieving specific post-translational modifications.
• Advanced yeast platforms are becoming indispensable assets in the biopharmaceutical discovery and development pipeline.