Scientists develop chickens that may fight cancer

BRITISH scientists have developed genetically modified chickens capable of laying eggs containing proteins needed to make cancer-fighting drugs.

The breakthrough has been announced by the same research centre that created the cloned sheep, Dolly.

The Roslin Institute, near Edinburgh, says it has produced five generations of birds that can produce useful levels of lifesaving proteins in their eggs.

The work could lead to a range of drugs that are cheaper and easier to make.

Professor Harry Griffin, director of the institute, said: “One of the characteristics of lots of medical treatments these days is that they’re very expensive.

“The idea of producing the proteins involved in treatments of flocks of laying hens means they can produce in bulk, they can produce cheaply and indeed the raw material for this production system is quite literally chicken feed.”

BBC medical correspondent Fergus Walsh told BBC News 24 that the scientists, who have bred 500 birds, had been working on the project for seven years.

But it could be another five years before patient trials get the go-ahead and 10 years until a medicine is fully developed, he said.

Although proteins have been developed in the egg whites, researchers do not yet know whether the resulting drugs would work in practice.

In June 2005 the scientists announced that designer chickens whose eggs contain large amounts of cancer-fighting proteins could be a commercial reality.

At the time, researchers at Roslin said they had produced a version of an antibody designed to treat malignant skin cancer.