Rational design and engineering of therapeutic proteins.

An increasing number of engineered protein therapeutics are currently being developed, tested in clinical trials and marketed for use. Many of these proteins arose out of hit-and-miss efforts to discover specific mutations, fusion partners or chemical modifications that confer desired properties. Through these efforts, several useful strategies have emerged for rational optimization of therapeutic candidates. The controlled manipulation of the physical, chemical and biological properties of proteins enabled by structure-based simulation is now being used to refine established rational engineering approaches and to advance new strategies. These methods provide clear, hypothesis-driven routes to solve problems that plague many proteins and to create novel mechanisms of action. We anticipate that rational protein engineering will shape the field of protein therapeutics dramatically by improving existing products and enabling the development of novel therapeutic agents.