Biomedical Applications of Bacterial Inclusion Bodies

© 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved. The production of recombinant proteins is a major technological platform in biotechnology, pharmacology, and associated disciplines, and a convenient source of polypeptides for the biocatalysis, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Escherichia coli, have been adapted during three decades as cellular factories for protein production. Using these biological platforms, enzymes, hormones, growth factors, cytoquines, antigens, immunogens, and a diversity of supramolecular complexes have been obtained for characterization or to be used as tools in catalysis or biomedicine. Inclusion bodies (IBs) have recently been observed as emerging biomaterials with potential biomedical applications. This has been empowered by the fact that these protein clusters are biologically active and also mechanically stable. Once purified, IBs are regular particles with low polydispersity, usually spherical or ovoid, ranging from 50 to 1000nm in diameter. The potential of bacterial cells to generate therapeutic nanopills should be explored fully in the context of innovative medicines.