Biosynthesis of protein-based drugs using eukaryotic microalgae

Protein-based drugs are currently the fastest-growing category in the pharmaceutical industry due to their high efficiency, low dosage, targeting, and low side effects. However, their development has been hindered by low yields and high production costs due to their complex properties and synthetic pathways. Eukaryotic microalgae offer unique advantages over conventional expression systems in exogenous gene expression and regulation, translation, post-translational modification, drug delivery, and downstream isolation and purification. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, the first microalga to complete whole-genome sequencing, has developed a variety of molecular tools that made it the model organism for eukaryotic microalgal research in expressing exogenous recombinant proteins. This review highlights the potential of eukaryotic microalgae as a novel platform for protein-based drug production, comparing their advantages and disadvantages with existing protein-based drug expression systems. The characteristics of gene expression, translation and post-translational modifications in eukaryotic microalgae are summarized. Moreover, practical and research advances in the use of eukaryotic microalgae as a platform for producing protein-based drugs such as vaccines, antibodies and cytokines are introduced. Finally, the challenges and some suggestions for future research and development were proposed in the field.