Cloning expression and mutational analysis of human interferon alpha 2

The production of recombinant biopharmaceuticals with antiviral and antiproliferative properties is one of the major aims of advanced genetic engineering. Interferon alpha 2b belongs to the class of recombinant therapeutics which is equally effective against viral infections and carcinomas. Recombinant human IFN ?2b is widely used FDA approved protein drug with global sale level is expected to reach up to 5.8 billion US dollars by 2010 due to its increased demand as a result of high prevalence of hepatitis infections and carcinomas in developed as well as developing countries including Pakistan. In the current research a process was developed for the production of this recombinant interferon alpha 2b drug by adopting advanced molecular and biochemical strategies. Intragene modifications at specific amino acids were also made to produce antiviral gene sequences with improved antiviral properties. Human interferon alpha 2b gene analysis was also established in blood cancers (AML and ALL) in order to find out mutations of clinical significance in theses cancers.

Dr. Nasir Mahmood is Assistant Professor in University of Health Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. He has PhD in Biological Sciences (Molecular Biology) from School of Biological Sciences,University of the Punjab, Lahore as well as M.Phil (Molecular Biology) from National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, Lahore.