Transgenic animals as bioreactors working for the pharmaceutical industry

A modern pharmacotherapy without the use of proteins as drugs is not more p racticable. In the clinic blood coagulation factors (factor VIII and IX), g rowth hormones (human growth hormone), enzymes (1-antitrysin, insulin), and cytokines are currently used. At the beginning, the proteins were isolated from biological sources or expressed in vitro by the use of E. coli or euk aryotic cell lines. At the moment efforts were undertaken to express these proteins in the milk of transgenic animals. This review article describes t he methods for the generation of transgenic animals, the benefits and drawb acks of this new technique in comparison to established methods for the pro duction of proteins as pharmaceuticals. At the end of the review possible i mprovements of the method are described.