Question

give a brief account of recombinant insulin....

Answer 1

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Answer 2

Since Banting and Best discovered the hormone, insulin in 1921.(1) diabetic patients, whose elevated sugar levels (see fig. 1) are due to impaired insulin production, have been treated with insulin derived from the pancreas glands of abattoir animals. The hormone, produced and secreted by the beta cells of the pancreas' islets of Langerhans,(2) regulates the use and storage of food, particularly carbohydrates.

Fig. 1
Fluctuations in diabetic person's blood glucose levels, compared with healthy individuals. Source: Hillson,R. - Diabetes: A beyond basics guide, pg.16.

Although bovine and porcine insulin are similar to human insulin, their composition is slightly different. Consequently, a number of patients' immune systems produce antibodies against it, neutralising its actions and resulting in inflammatory responses at injection sites. Added to these adverse effects of bovine and porcine insulin, were fears of long term complications ensuing from the regular injection of a foreign substance,(3) as well as a projected decline in the production of animal derived insulin.(4) These factors led researchers to consider synthesising Humulin by inserting the insulin gene into a suitable vector, the E. coli bacterial cell, to produce an insulin that is chemically identical to its naturally produced counterpart. This has been achieved using Recombinant DNA technology. This method (see fig. 2) is a more reliable and sustainable(5) method than extracting and purifying the abattoir by-product.