Cyanobacteria: A sustainable platform for high-value biopharmaceutical protein production

Biopharmaceutical (therapeutic) proteins are biologically-derived drugs used to treat a variety of diseases. Producing these proteins naturally from mammalian cells presents significant challenges. As a result, non-native hosts, including plants, algae, yeast, and bacteria, have been employed to produce these proteins; however, the complex genetic reconstruction process, high cultivation costs, contamination risks, and regulatory hurdles have hampered commercial success. Cyanobacteria are a group of photoautotrophic organisms with enormous potential for sustainable manufacturing. They have recently been exploited as a potential bio-factory for therapeutic protein production. Cyanobacteria provide numerous benefits as a host for therapeutic protein production, including ease of genetic modification, cost-effective cultivation techniques, faster growth, minimal growth requirements, and low contamination risks. Successful genetic modification has enabled cyanobacteria to synthesize and accumulate diverse range of therapeutic proteins, including vaccines, antibodies, growth factors, and immunomodulatory proteins. Despite its advantages as an expression host, biopharmaceutical protein production in cyanobacteria is constrained by protein instability, low yields, and limited post-translational modification capabilities, jeopardizing its commercial viability. This review discusses various aspects of cyanobacteria-based biopharmaceutical protein production, highlighting current challenges and future prospects for overcoming them. Additionally, it analyzes the cost-effectiveness of this platform compared to other production systems.