The S. japonicum-Based pGEX Vector: Commercial Outcomes from Analysis of Model Host-Parasite Relationships in a “North-South” Collaboration

Abstract

As judged by widespread utility in protein production from recombinant Escherichia coli and by the magnitude of royalty payments to Melbourne’s Walter & Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI), the expression vector pGEX, invented by Dr Donald Smith, has been a significant commercial success. It is based on the 26kDa glutathione S-transferase of Schisto-soma japonicum(Philippines) termed Sj26GST, that emerged from work throughout the 1980’s on resistance to infection in a peculiar mouse strain, WEHI 129/J. Sj26GST was the lead vaccine candidate for this human helminth worm being pursued in a long-term collaboration between WEHI in Australia and Dr Edito Garcia’s¹group at the College of Public Health, University of the Philippines in Manila that commenced in 1980.

The product, pGEX, is an excellent example of commercial spin-off from basic research in mouse model systems that indeed evolved into an applied research program but with a very different goal, namely rational molecular vaccine development.