Leishmania-based expression systems.

Production of therapeutic or medical recombinant proteins, such as monoclonal antibodies, proteins, or active enzymes, requires a highly efficient system allowing natural folding and perfect post-translation modifications of the expressed protein. These requirements lead to the generation of a variety of gene expression systems from bacteria to eukaryotes. To achieve the best form of eukaryotic proteins, two factors need to be taken into consideration: choosing a suitable organism to express the protein of interest, and selecting an efficient delivery system. For this reason, the expression of recombinant proteins in eukaryotic nonpathogenic Leishmania parasites is an interesting approach which meets both criteria. Here, new Leishmania-based expression systems are compared with current systems that have long histories in research and industry.