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SUMMARY:Transgenic Spirodela polyrhiza and  Lemna minor for Oral Delivery 
 of Highly Glycosylated Human Interferon Alpha-2b
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20261002T082500Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20261002T084000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260915T223808Z
UID:indico-contribution-2888@cern.ch
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Yelizaveta Prokhorova (Division of Plant Sciences\, 
 School of Life Sciences\, University of Dundee)\nDuckweeds are a group of 
 aquatic plants that represent an attractive platform for molecular farming
  due to their rapid vegetative propagation\, genetic stability\, and low c
 ultivation costs. In this study\, we investigated the production of recomb
 inant human interferon alpha-2b (HsIFN2b)\, a cytokine widely used for 
 antiviral and anti-proliferative therapies\, in duckweed\, with potential 
 to reduce costs associated with downstream processing\, cold-chain storage
 \, and parenteral administration.\n\nRespiratory viral infections remain a
  major global health burden\, causing significant morbidity\, mortality\, 
 and economic losses\, while access to prevention and treatment remains lim
 ited in many low-income countries. Oral delivery of HsIFN2b has been sh
 own to produce a systemic immune response at doses up to 104-fold lower th
 an required for injections\, potentially reducing its adverse effects. Mor
 eover\, in edible duckweeds\, the plant cell wall may provide bioencapsula
 tion\, protecting recombinant protein from digestion via gastrointestinal 
 enzymes.\n \nTo improve the protein stability and biological activity of H
 sIFN2b\, four artificial N-glycosylation sites were introduced by site-
 directed amino acid substitution. Transgenic lines of Spirodela polyrhiza 
 162 and Lemna minor 8623 expressing 4N-HsIFN2b were generated via Agrob
 acterium-mediated transformation and indirect organogenesis. LC-MS glycan 
 analysis of plant 4N-HsIFN2b identified complex plant-type glycans\, in
 dicating Golgi-mediated processing and targeting to the secretory pathway.
 \n \nBiological activity was assessed using human A375 melanoma cells carr
 ying an ISRE-mCherry reporter. Plant-produced 4N-HsIFN2b induced activa
 tion of the IFNAR signalling pathway\, resulting in an approximately three
 fold increase in reporter activity at 70 ng ml-1 compared with the buffer 
 control\, demonstrating functional activity in human cells.\n\nhttps://ind
 ico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2888/
LOCATION: Sala Monumentini
URL:https://indico.unina.it/event/117/contributions/2888/
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