Amity Island
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
“Mother Nature designed the mammary gland as a factory to make protein really, really efficiently. We can take advantage of that system to produce a protein that can help hundreds of millions of people worldwide,”
“Our goal was to make proinsulin, purify it out to insulin, and go from there. But the cow basically processed it herself. She makes about three to one biologically active insulin to proinsulin,” Wheeler said. “The mammary gland is a magical thing.”
The insulin and proinsulin, which would need to be extracted and purified for use, were expressed at a few grams per liter in the milk. But because the lactation was induced hormonally and the milk volume was smaller than expected, the team can’t say exactly how much insulin would be made in a typical lactation.
Conservatively, Wheeler says if a cow could make 1 gram of insulin per liter and a typical Holstein makes 40 to 50 liters per day, that’s a lot of insulin. Especially since the typical unit of insulin equals 0.0347 milligrams.
“That means each gram is equivalent to 28,818 units of insulin,” Wheeler said. “And that's just one liter; Holsteins can produce 50 liters per day. You can do the math.”
aces.illinois.edu
“Our goal was to make proinsulin, purify it out to insulin, and go from there. But the cow basically processed it herself. She makes about three to one biologically active insulin to proinsulin,” Wheeler said. “The mammary gland is a magical thing.”
The insulin and proinsulin, which would need to be extracted and purified for use, were expressed at a few grams per liter in the milk. But because the lactation was induced hormonally and the milk volume was smaller than expected, the team can’t say exactly how much insulin would be made in a typical lactation.
Conservatively, Wheeler says if a cow could make 1 gram of insulin per liter and a typical Holstein makes 40 to 50 liters per day, that’s a lot of insulin. Especially since the typical unit of insulin equals 0.0347 milligrams.
“That means each gram is equivalent to 28,818 units of insulin,” Wheeler said. “And that's just one liter; Holsteins can produce 50 liters per day. You can do the math.”
Milk to the rescue for diabetics? Illinois project creates first insulin-producing cow | College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences | UIUC
An unassuming brown bovine from the south of Brazil has made history as the first transgenic cow capable of producing human insulin in her milk.