Folding-Promoting Agents in Recombinant Protein Production

Recombinant protein production has become an essential tool for providing the necessary amounts of a protein of interest to either research or therapy. The target proteins are not in every case soluble and/or correctly folded. That is why different production parameters, such as host, cultivation conditions, and co-expression of chaperones and foldases, are applied in order to gain functional recombinant proteins. Furthermore, the addition of folding-promoting agents during the cultivation is increasingly performed. The impact of all these strategies cannot be predicted and must be analyzed and optimized for the corresponding target protein. In this chapter recent cases of using folding-promoting agents in recombinant protein production are reviewed and discussed with respect to their in vivo applicability. Their effects in the cells are mostly not known in detail but at least partially comparable with the in vitro mode of action. The corresponding in vitro effects are also included in the chapter in order to facilitate a decision about their potential in vivo use.