Bioengineering (Aug 2021)

<i>Pichia pastoris</i> (<i>Komagataella phaffii</i>) as a Cost-Effective Tool for Vaccine Production for Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

  • Salomé de Sá Magalhães,
  • Eli Keshavarz-Moore

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering8090119
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 9
p. 119

Abstract

Read online

Vaccination is of paramount importance to global health. With the advent of the more recent pandemics, the urgency to expand the range has become even more evident. However, the potential limited availability and affordability of vaccines to resource low- and middle-income countries has created a need for solutions that will ensure cost-effective vaccine production methods for these countries. Pichia pastoris (P. pastoris) (also known as Komagataella phaffii) is one of the most promising candidates for expression of heterologous proteins in vaccines development. It combines the speed and ease of highly efficient prokaryotic platforms with some key capabilities of mammalian systems, potentially reducing manufacturing costs. This review will examine the latest developments in P. pastoris from cell engineering and design to industrial production systems with focus on vaccine development and with reference to specific key case studies.

Keywords