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Eisenhut P, Marx N, Borsi G, Papež M, Ruggeri C, Baumann M, Borth N. Manipulating gene expression levels in mammalian cell factories: An outline of synthetic molecular toolboxes to achieve multiplexed control. N Biotechnol 2024; 79:1-19. [PMID: 38040288 DOI: 10.1016/j.nbt.2023.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2023] [Revised: 11/06/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
Mammalian cells have developed dedicated molecular mechanisms to tightly control expression levels of their genes where the specific transcriptomic signature across all genes eventually determines the cell's phenotype. Modulating cellular phenotypes is of major interest to study their role in disease or to reprogram cells for the manufacturing of recombinant products, such as biopharmaceuticals. Cells of mammalian origin, for example Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) and Human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells, are most commonly employed to produce therapeutic proteins. Early genetic engineering approaches to alter their phenotype have often been attempted by "uncontrolled" overexpression or knock-down/-out of specific genetic factors. Many studies in the past years, however, highlight that rationally regulating and fine-tuning the strength of overexpression or knock-down to an optimum level, can adjust phenotypic traits with much more precision than such "uncontrolled" approaches. To this end, synthetic biology tools have been generated that enable (fine-)tunable and/or inducible control of gene expression. In this review, we discuss various molecular tools used in mammalian cell lines and group them by their mode of action: transcriptional, post-transcriptional, translational and post-translational regulation. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using these tools for each cell regulatory layer and with respect to cell line engineering approaches. This review highlights the plethora of synthetic toolboxes that could be employed, alone or in combination, to optimize cellular systems and eventually gain enhanced control over the cellular phenotype to equip mammalian cell factories with the tools required for efficient production of emerging, more difficult-to-express biologics formats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Eisenhut
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib GmbH), Muthgasse 11, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Nicolas Marx
- BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Cell Technology and Systems Biology, Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Giulia Borsi
- BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Cell Technology and Systems Biology, Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Maja Papež
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib GmbH), Muthgasse 11, 1190 Vienna, Austria; BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Cell Technology and Systems Biology, Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Caterina Ruggeri
- BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Cell Technology and Systems Biology, Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Martina Baumann
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib GmbH), Muthgasse 11, 1190 Vienna, Austria
| | - Nicole Borth
- Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib GmbH), Muthgasse 11, 1190 Vienna, Austria; BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Cell Technology and Systems Biology, Muthgasse 18, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
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Zhu Z, Chen X, Li W, Zhuang Y, Zhao Y, Wang G. Understanding the effect of temperature downshift on CHO cell growth, antibody titer and product quality by intracellular metabolite profiling and in vivo monitoring of redox state. Biotechnol Prog 2023; 39:e3352. [PMID: 37141532 DOI: 10.1002/btpr.3352] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2023] [Revised: 04/16/2023] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
The strategy of temperature downshift has been widely used in the biopharmaceutical industry to improve antibody production and cell-specific production rate (qp ) with Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO). However, the mechanism of temperature-induced metabolic rearrangement, especially important intracellular metabolic events, remains poorly understood. In this work, in order to explore the mechanisms of temperature-induced cell metabolism, we systematically assessed the differences in cell growth, antibody expression, and antibody quality between high-producing (HP) and low-producing (LP) CHO cell lines under both constant temperature (37°C) and temperature downshift (37°C→33°C) settings during fed-batch culture. Although the results showed that low-temperature culture during the late phase of exponential cell growth significantly reduced the maximum viable cell density (p < 0.05) and induced cell cycle arrest in the G0/G1 phase, this temperature downshift led to a higher cellular viability and increased antibody titer by 48% and 28% in HP and LP CHO cell cultures, respectively (p < 0.001), and favored antibody quality reflected in reduced charge heterogeneity and molecular size heterogeneity. Combined extra- and intra-cellular metabolomics analyses revealed that temperature downshift significantly downregulated intracellular glycolytic and lipid metabolic pathways while upregulated tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, and particularly featured upregulated glutathione metabolic pathways. Interestingly, all these metabolic pathways were closely associated with the maintenance of intracellular redox state and oxidative stress-alleviating strategies. To experimentally address this, we developed two high-performance fluorescent biosensors, denoted SoNar and iNap1, for real-time monitoring of intracellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide/nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide + hydrogen (NAD+ /NADH) ratio and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) amount, respectively. Consistent with such metabolic rearrangements, the results showed that temperature downshift decreased the intracellular NAD+ /NADH ratio, which might be ascribed to the re-consumption of lactate, and increased the intracellular NADPH amount (p < 0.01) to scavenge intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by the increased metabolic requirements for high-level expression of antibody. Collectively, this study provides a metabolic map of cellular metabolic rearrangement induced by temperature downshift and demonstrates the feasibility of real-time fluorescent biosensors for biological processes, thus potentially providing a new strategy for dynamic optimization of antibody production processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ziyu Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, China
| | - Xiaoqian Chen
- Optogenetics & Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, China
| | - Wenhao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, China
| | - Yingping Zhuang
- State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, China
- Qingdao Innovation Institute of East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuzheng Zhao
- Optogenetics & Synthetic Biology Interdisciplinary Research Center, State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Optogenetic Techniques for Cell Metabolism, School of Pharmacy, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, China
- Research Unit of New Techniques for Live-cell Metabolic Imaging, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Guan Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST), Shanghai, China
- Qingdao Innovation Institute of East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
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Yang Y, Li Z, Li Q, Ma K, Lin Y, Feng H, Wang T. Increase recombinant antibody yields through optimizing vector design and production process in CHO cells. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2022; 106:4963-4975. [PMID: 35788878 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-022-12051-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2022] [Revised: 06/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most commonly used host cells for the production of recombinant monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) due to their several advantages. Although the yields of recombinant mAbs can be greatly increased by some strategies, such as medium formulation, culture conditions, and cell engineering, most studies focused on either upstream design or downstream processes. In the present study, we first expressed recombinant adalimumab through combination of the vector design and production process optimization in CHO cells. Bicistronic vector, monocistronic vector, and dual promoter vector were constructed, and the production process was optimized using low-temperature and fed-batch culture. The results showed that the dual promoter vector exhibited the highest yield under the transient and stable transfected cells among three different vector systems in CHO cells. In addition, low-temperature and fed-batch culture could further improve the yields of adalimumab. The purified antibody displayed tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) binding activity. In conclusion, combination of expression vector design and production process optimization can achieve higher expression of recombinant mAbs in CHO cells. KEY POINTS: • The dual promoter vector is more effective for expressing recombinant antibodies. • The yields of antibodies are related to the LC chain expression level. • Low-temperature and feed addition can promote antibody production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yongxiao Yang
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.,Henan International Joint Laboratory of Recombinant Pharmaceutical Protein Expression System, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, Henan, China
| | - Zhengmei Li
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.,Henan International Joint Laboratory of Recombinant Pharmaceutical Protein Expression System, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, Henan, China
| | - Qin Li
- Henan International Joint Laboratory of Recombinant Pharmaceutical Protein Expression System, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, Henan, China
| | - Kai Ma
- Henan International Joint Laboratory of Recombinant Pharmaceutical Protein Expression System, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, Henan, China
| | - Yan Lin
- Henan International Joint Laboratory of Recombinant Pharmaceutical Protein Expression System, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, Henan, China
| | - Huigen Feng
- School of Life Science and Technology, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, China.
| | - Tianyun Wang
- Henan International Joint Laboratory of Recombinant Pharmaceutical Protein Expression System, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453003, Henan, China.
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Pérez-Rodriguez S, Wulff T, Voldborg BG, Altamirano C, Trujillo-Roldán MA, Valdez-Cruz NA. Compartmentalized Proteomic Profiling Outlines the Crucial Role of the Classical Secretory Pathway during Recombinant Protein Production in Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells. ACS OMEGA 2021; 6:12439-12458. [PMID: 34056395 PMCID: PMC8154153 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c06030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/24/2021] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Different cellular processes that contribute to protein production in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells have been previously investigated by proteomics. However, although the classical secretory pathway (CSP) has been well documented as a bottleneck during recombinant protein (RP) production, it has not been well represented in previous proteomic studies. Hence, the significance of this pathway for production of RP was assessed by identifying its own proteins that were associated to changes in RP production, through subcellular fractionation coupled to shot-gun proteomics. Two CHO cell lines producing a monoclonal antibody with different specific productivities were used as cellular models, from which 4952 protein groups were identified, which represent a coverage of 59% of the Chinese hamster proteome. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD021014. By using SAM and ROTS algorithms, 493 proteins were classified as differentially expressed, of which about 80% was proposed as novel targets and one-third were assigned to the CSP. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, unfolded protein response, calcium homeostasis, vesicle traffic, glycosylation, autophagy, proteasomal activity, protein synthesis and translocation into ER lumen, and secretion of extracellular matrix components were some of the affected processes that occurred in the secretory pathway. Processes from other cellular compartments, such as DNA replication, transcription, cytoskeleton organization, signaling, and metabolism, were also modified. This study gives new insights into the molecular traits of higher producer cells and provides novel targets for development of new sub-lines with improved phenotypes for RP production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saumel Pérez-Rodriguez
- Programa
de Investigación de Producción de Biomoléculas,
Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología,
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán 04510 Ciudad de
México, México
| | - Tune Wulff
- The
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Bjørn G. Voldborg
- The
Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby 2800, Denmark
| | - Claudia Altamirano
- Laboratorio
de Cultivos Celulares, Escuela de Ingeniería Bioquímica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Avenida Brasil 2085 Valparaíso, Chile
| | - Mauricio A. Trujillo-Roldán
- Programa
de Investigación de Producción de Biomoléculas,
Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología,
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán 04510 Ciudad de
México, México
| | - Norma A. Valdez-Cruz
- Programa
de Investigación de Producción de Biomoléculas,
Departamento de Biología Molecular y Biotecnología,
Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán 04510 Ciudad de
México, México
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Chen P, Chen M, Menon A, Hussain AI, Carey E, Lee C, Horwitz J, O'Connell S, Cooper JW, Schwartz R, Gowetski DB. Development of a High Yielding Bioprocess for a Pre-fusion RSV Subunit Vaccine. J Biotechnol 2020; 325:261-270. [PMID: 33068697 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2020.10.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Revised: 09/22/2020] [Accepted: 10/12/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a highly contagious virus causing severe infection in infants and the elderly. Various approaches are being used to develop an effective RSV vaccine. The RSV fusion (F) subunit, particularly the cleaved trimeric pre-fusion F, is one of the most promising vaccine candidates under development. The pre-fusion conformation elicits the majority of neutralizing antibodies during natural infection. However, this pre-fusion conformation is metastable and prone to conversion to a post-fusion conformation, thus hindering the potential of this construct as a vaccine antigen. The Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) designed a structurally stabilized pre-fusion F glycoprotein, DS-Cav1, that showed high immunogenicity and induced a neutralizing response in animal studies. To advance this candidate to clinical manufacturing, a production process that maintained product quality (i.e. a cleaved trimer with pre-fusion conformation) and delivered high protein expression levels was required. This report describes the development of the vaccine candidate including vector design and cell culture process development to meet these challenges. Co-transfection of individual plasmids to express DS-Cav1 and furin (for DS-Cav1 cleavage and activation) demonstrated a superior protein product expression and pre-fusion conformation compared to co-expression with a double gene vector. A top clone was selected based on these measurements. Protein expression levels were further increased by seeding density optimization and a biphasic hypothermia temperature downshift. The combined efforts led to a high-yield fed-batch production of approximately 1,500 mg/L (or up to 15,000 doses per liter) at harvest. The process was scaled up and demonstrated to be reproducible at 50 L-scale for toxicity and Phase I clinical trial use. Preliminary phase I data indicate the pre-fusion antigen has a promising efficacy (Crank et al., 2019).
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Affiliation(s)
- Peifeng Chen
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA.
| | - Mingzhong Chen
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Amritha Menon
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Althaf I Hussain
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Elizabeth Carey
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Christopher Lee
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Joe Horwitz
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Sarah O'Connell
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Johnathan W Cooper
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Richard Schwartz
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
| | - Daniel B Gowetski
- Vaccine Production Program, Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, 9 West Watkins Mill Rd., Gaithersburg, MD, 20878, USA
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6
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Enabling HEK293 cells for antibiotic-free media bioprocessing through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing. Biochem Eng J 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2019.107299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
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