High level expression of bioactive recombinant human growth hormone in the milk of a cloned transgenic cow.

Transgenic farm animals have been proposed as an alternative to current bioreactors for large scale production of biopharmaceuticals. However, the efficiency of both methods in the production of the same protein has not yet been established. Here we report the production of recombinant human growth hormone (hGH) in the milk of a cloned transgenic cow at levels of up to 5 g l(-1).

Cardiomyocyte hyperplasia after plasmid-mediated vascular endothelial growth factor gene transfer in pigs with chronic myocardial ischemia.

Background: For over 40 years it has been proposed that cardiomyocyte hyperplasia may occur in hypertrophic human hearts. While this implies that heart myocytes can undergo cytokinesis, evidence of conventional cell division has been exceptionally reported. Recently, we found that gene transfer of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) displays a mitogenic effect on adult cardiomyocytes.