Proteins have a vast array of functions than just ‘building the body’ as taught to children in school. They speed up several metabolic functions, help the ribonucleic acid (RNA) divide and proliferate, respond to numerous external and internal stimuli, provide cells with the proper structure, and ferry molecules from one site within the body to another. Since people have gained knowledge on how proteins are produced and manipulated within the body, the artificial synthesis of these biomolecules has become possible. The process, which is known as protein expression, is also used to study the proteins themselves, apart from producing them in labs.
Thus, with the increasing research and development (R&D) activities in the disease diagnosis, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology domains, the protein expression market is well on its way to garnering huge revenue in the coming years. The study of proteins is useful for gaining a deeper knowledge on chronic diseases. Many diseases, which are not caused by an external pathogen, such as a fungus, parasite, bacteria, or virus, have genetic causes, mostly a faulty protein. Many long-term diseases, including multiple myeloma and amyloidosis, have abnormal protein as the primary cause.
Prokaryotic cell-based, mammalian cell-based, insect cell-based, yeast based, algae-based, and cell-free systems are used to study proteins and produce them for research or commercial purposes. Among these, prokaryotic cell-based systems are the most widely utilized, as compared to others, they are more cost-effective. Various expression vectors, reagents, instruments, competent cells, and services are utilized by companies engaged in protein research or synthesis. In the coming years, the demand for reagents is predicted to increase the fastest, as a result of the rising production of vaccines and antibodies and the number of protein research organizations around the world.
Academic research institutes, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, contract research organizations, and numerous other types of entities use the products and services provided for protein expression processes. Among these, pharmaceutical companies are predicted to be the largest users of these services and products in the coming years, which is coherent with the fact that among industrial, therapeutic, and research, therapy would be the largest application area of protein expression. With the increase in the incidence of chronic diseases, especially CVDs and cancer, which carry an annual mortality of 17.9 million and 9.6 million, respectively, as per the World Health Organization (WHO), drug development activities are rising fast.
Presently, the most productive protein expression market has been North America, as a result of the high prevalence of chronic diseases here. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that six in every 10 adults in the U.S. have a chronic health condition, while four in ten have at least two. Moreover, the continent is home to numerous critically acclaimed medical research centers and globally operating pharma companies, which are increasing adopting the protein expression technique for medical research, and drug discovery and mass production.
Hence, on account of the rising chronic disease prevalence and desire of the medical fraternity to understand the role of proteins here, these biomolecules will continue being artificially manufactured and analyzed.
