Engineering Growth Factor/Receptor Processes: Effects of EGF Receptor Trafficking Dynamics on Cell Proliferation Responses To EGF

A central issue in modern biotechnology is the control of mammalian cell proliferation by hormones and growth factors. The bioprocessing industry is attempting to produce a wide range of peptide growth factors for mammalian cells, for applications in human and animal health care such as wound healing and immune response stimulation. Roughly 60% of sales in the bioprocessing industry over the next decade are projected to be in human therapeutics, and over 3/4 of the current or planned therapeutic products are peptide growth factors [1]. At the same time, use of mammalian cell themselves in bioreactors to produce pharmaceutical agents is gaining favor, due to their specialized capability to synthesize proteins with appropriate conformation and activity [2, 3]. Proliferation of these cells require growth factors or complex mixtures of regulatory proteins. Finally, growth factor interactions with their cellular targets are critically implicated in many issues arising in the investigation of cancer [4]. Clearly, an improved understanding of the mechanisms by which growth factors regulate mammalian cell proliferation would have tremendous beneficial consequences for both production and application aspects of growth factor-based biotechnology.