Blood-clotting milk

Press, 8 October 1987, Page 13

Blood-clotting milk

Scientists in Scotland have found a way of breeding sheep which give milk high in Factor 9, a blood-clotting agent used in the treatment of haemophilia, writes Irene Hamilton of the London Press Service science staff.

The work at the Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research in Edinburgh involves genetically engineering sheep to carry a human gene responsible for Factor 9.

Small amounts of the protein Factor 9 occur naturally In the body, but by using genetic engineering techniques the Edinburgh team is tricking the ani-

mats’ metabolic machinery into turning out the chemicals in much bigger quantities.

Dr Paul Simons, the . team leader, said early tests were promising but the blood-clotting substance had still to be tested on haemophiliacs. Dr Simons and his colleagues, Dr John Clark and Dr Margaret McClenaghan, are now planning further tests on a small flock of farm sheep near Edinburgh. If such body proteins can be produced in commercial quantities, then animals on future farms could be raised not for their fleece or meat, but for the chemicals In their milk.