New research program aims to produce all human secreted proteins

A new research program has been launched to produce all the human secreted proteins in mammalian cell factories. The program aims to facilitate studies of this important class of proteins, which are involved in many human diseases.

A mammalian cell factory, which was developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, will be used in the effort, and the collaborative partners of the program, including AstraZeneca, will further explore the generated proteins.

The human secreted proteins, sometimes called the "secretome", consist of approximately 3,000 proteins, which are produced inside our cells and then often transported out to the blood.

This class of proteins is important in many central processes in the human body, including bacterial and viral defense, inflammation, cell signaling and transport of nutrients.  As a consequence, they are important as potential targets for pharmaceutical drugs. A large portion of drugs now in clinical use are directed towards secreted proteins.

To explore this important class of proteins in a systematic manner, a collaborative program between the Wallenberg Center for Protein Research, which includes KTH, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (CFB) at the Technical University of Denmark has been started with the aim to produce all human secreted proteins and to create a resource for further studies.

"We are pleased that the mammalian cell factory developed at KTH can be used to create this valuable resource to allow systematic studies of the human secretome in a manner not possible before", says KTH Professor Mathias Uhlen, Director and responsible for the Wallenberg Center for Protein Research and one of the Scientific Directors at the CFB.