Possibilities of Using Fetal Hemoglobin as a Platform for Producing Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers (HBOCs)

The expression levels of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in bacterial recombinant systems are higher compared with normal adult hemoglobin (HbA). However, heme disorientation in globins are often observed in recombinant production processes, both for HbA and HbF, although the degree of heme oriental disorder is much lower for HbF. In addition, the heme disorientation can be converted to a normal conformation by an oxidation-reduction process. A chromatographic cleaning process involving a strong anion exchanger can be utilized to remove such unstable and nondesirable forms of Hb.