Etanercept

Etanercept (Enbrel) is a drug that treats autoimmune diseases by interfering with the TNF receptor (a part of the immune system) by acting as a TNF inhibitor. Etanercept is a fusion protein produced through expression of recombinant DNA. That is, it is a product of a DNA "construct" engineered to link the human gene for soluble TNF receptor 2 to the gene for the Fc component of human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1). Expression of the construct produces ... more

Etanercept (Enbrel) is a drug that treats autoimmune diseases by interfering with the TNF receptor (a part of the immune system) by acting as a TNF inhibitor. Etanercept is a fusion protein produced through expression of recombinant DNA. That is, it is a product of a DNA "construct" engineered to link the human gene for soluble TNF receptor 2 to the gene for the Fc component of human immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1). Expression of the construct produces a continuous protein "fusing" TNF receptor 2 to IgG1. Production of Etanercept is accomplished by the large-scale culturing of cells that have been "cloned" to express this recombinant DNA construct. The prototypic fusion protein was first synthesized and shown to be highly active and unusually stable as a modality for blockade of TNF in vivo in the early 1990s by Bruce A. Beutler, an academic researcher then at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, and his colleagues. These investigators also patented the protein,... less