Albumin is the most abundant protein found in human plasma. It is synthesized in the liver at a very high rate of approximately 15 grams per day in healthy individuals. Albumin functions mainly as a transport and storage protein in plasma. It binds and transports various ligands like fatty acids, hormones, bilirubin and drugs throughout the body. Albumin prevents filtration of these ligands in kidneys, thereby maintaining their concentration gradient across blood vessels. Due to its unique functions and abundance, albumin is widely used as an important plasma expander and therapeutic protein in various clinical conditions.
Production of recombinant human albumin
While human albumin obtained from blood plasma has been used traditionally as a volume replacement fluid, it has several limitations like risk of disease transmission, variability between batches and limited supply to meet growing demands. This led to the development of recombinant human albumin produced through genetic engineering techniques. rHu Albumin is produced by isolation of human albumin gene, its insertion into expression vector and transformation into host cells like yeast or E. coli. The genetically engineered host cells are then cultured at large scale to secrete albumin into the culture medium. rHu Albumin is finally purified from this medium using series of chromatography steps to obtain highly purified human albumin. The production process ensures human albumin is free from any animal/human components or disease causing agents.
Clinical applications of rHu Albumin
Human albumin is used extensively as a volume replacement fluid during surgery and in number of other clinical conditions like:
– Liver diseases: rHu Albumin helps maintain colloid osmotic pressure in conditions of hypoalbuminemia caused by acute or chronic liver diseases. It effectively replaces lost albumin and prevents complications like edema.
– Burns: Significant loss of albumin occurs through extensive burns increasing risks of hypovolemia. It supplementation helps restore plasma volume and reduces mortality in severe burns.
– Nephrotic syndrome: Albumin is lost in urine due to kidney damage causing low plasma oncotic pressure. It supplements lost albumin and prevents further fluid shifts into tissues.
– Circulatory shock: It is used as a resuscitation fluid to restore depleted intravascular volume during conditions like sepsis or trauma induced shock.
– Surgery: It forms important part of intra and post-operative fluid management to maintain normovolemia and prevent complications like edema.
Recent randomized controlled clinical trials provide strong evidence for efficacy of rHu Albumin over other plasma volume expanders during surgery and in liver diseases, burns and other critical illnesses. rHu Albumin presents a safe and effective therapeutic option by eliminating rare but serious risks of plasma-derived human albumin.
With continued increase in life expectancy and lifestyle diseases, demands for human albumin both as plasma volume expander and therapeutic protein have grown exponentially. Recombinant technology for production of human albumin addresses the key limitations of plasma-derived albumin while ensuring abundant supplies. Multiple large clinical studies have demonstrated clear advantages of human albumin compared to alternative volume expanders. Human albumin thus represents an important breakthrough ensuring availability of standardized, safe and highly effective therapeutic albumin for various clinical conditions.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
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