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Hein MD, Kazenmaier D, van Heuvel Y, Dogra T, Cattaneo M, Kupke SY, Stitz J, Genzel Y, Reichl U. Production of retroviral vectors in continuous high cell density culture. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2023; 107:5947-5961. [PMID: 37542575 PMCID: PMC10485120 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-023-12689-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2023] [Revised: 07/06/2023] [Accepted: 07/12/2023] [Indexed: 08/07/2023]
Abstract
Retroviral vectors derived from murine leukemia virus (MLV) are used in somatic gene therapy applications e.g. for genetic modification of hematopoietic stem cells. Recently, we reported on the establishment of a suspension viral packaging cell line (VPC) for the production of MLV vectors. Human embryonic kidney 293-F (HEK293-F) cells were genetically modified for this purpose using transposon vector technology. Here, we demonstrate the establishment of a continuous high cell density (HCD) process using this cell line. First, we compared different media regarding the maximum achievable viable cell concentration (VCC) in small scale. Next, we transferred this process to a stirred tank bioreactor before we applied intensification strategies. Specifically, we established a perfusion process using an alternating tangential flow filtration system. Here, VCCs up to 27.4E + 06 cells/mL and MLV vector titers up to 8.6E + 06 transducing units/mL were achieved. Finally, we established a continuous HCD process using a tubular membrane for cell retention and continuous viral vector harvesting. Here, the space-time yield was 18-fold higher compared to the respective batch cultivations. Overall, our results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of HCD cultivations for high yield production of viral vectors, especially when combined with continuous viral vector harvesting. KEY POINTS: • A continuous high cell density process for MLV vector production was established • The tubular cell retention membrane allowed for continuous vector harvesting • The established process had a 18-fold higher space time yield compared to a batch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc D Hein
- Chair of Bioprocess Engineering, Otto-Von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Daniel Kazenmaier
- Bioprocess Engineering, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany
- Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Applied Sciences Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Yasemin van Heuvel
- Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Leverkusen, Germany
- Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany
| | - Tanya Dogra
- Bioprocess Engineering, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany
| | | | - Sascha Y Kupke
- Bioprocess Engineering, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Jörn Stitz
- Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Leverkusen, Germany
| | - Yvonne Genzel
- Bioprocess Engineering, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany.
| | - Udo Reichl
- Chair of Bioprocess Engineering, Otto-Von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
- Bioprocess Engineering, Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Magdeburg, Germany
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Schatz S, van Dijk FH, Dubiel AE, Cantz T, Eggenschwiler R, Stitz J. Generation of Human 293-F Suspension NGFR Knockout Cells Using CRISPR/Cas9 Coupled to Fluorescent Protein Expression. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2681:361-371. [PMID: 37405658 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3279-6_20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/06/2023]
Abstract
Suspension cells derived from human embryonic kidney cells (HEK 293) are attractive cell lines for retroviral vector production in gene therapeutic development studies and applications. The low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor (NGFR) is a genetic marker frequently used as a reporter gene in transfer vectors to detect and enrich genetically modified cells. However, the HEK 293 cell line and its derivatives endogenously express the NGFR protein. To eradicate the high background NGFR expression in future retroviral vector packaging cells, we here employed the CRISPR/Cas9 system to generate human suspension 293-F NGFR knockout cells. The expression of a fluorescent protein coupled via a 2A peptide motif to the NGFR targeting Cas9 endonuclease enabled the simultaneous depletion of cells expressing Cas9 and remaining NGFR-positive cells. Thus, a pure population of NGFR-negative 293-F cells lacking persistent Cas9 expression was obtained in a simple and easily applicable procedure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefanie Schatz
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences, Campus Leverkusen, Leverkusen, Germany
- Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany
| | - Femke Harmina van Dijk
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences, Campus Leverkusen, Leverkusen, Germany
| | - Aleksandra Elzbieta Dubiel
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences, Campus Leverkusen, Leverkusen, Germany
| | - Tobias Cantz
- Research Group Translational Hepatology and Stem Cell Biology, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Reto Eggenschwiler
- Research Group Translational Hepatology and Stem Cell Biology, Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Endocrinology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
| | - Jörn Stitz
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology & Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences, Campus Leverkusen, Leverkusen, Germany.
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van Heuvel Y, Schatz S, Hein M, Dogra T, Kazenmaier D, Tschorn N, Genzel Y, Stitz J. Novel suspension retroviral packaging cells generated by transposition using transposase encoding mRNA advance vector yields and enable production in bioreactors. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1076524. [PMID: 37082212 PMCID: PMC10112512 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1076524] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 04/22/2023] Open
Abstract
To date, the establishment of high-titer stable viral packaging cells (VPCs) at large scale for gene therapeutic applications is very time- and cost-intensive. Here we report the establishment of three human suspension 293-F-derived ecotropic MLV-based VPCs. The classic stable transfection of an EGFP-expressing transfer vector resulted in a polyclonal VPC pool that facilitated cultivation in shake flasks of 100 mL volumes and yielded high functional titers of more than 1 × 106 transducing units/mL (TU/mL). When the transfer vector was flanked by transposon terminal inverted repeats (TIRs) and upon co-transfection of a plasmid encoding for the transposase, productivities could be slightly elevated to more than 3 × 106 TU/mL. In contrast and using mRNA encoding for the transposase, as a proof of concept, productivities were drastically improved by more than ten-fold exceeding 5 × 107 TU/mL. In addition, these VPC pools were generated within only 3 weeks. The production volume was successfully scaled up to 500 mL employing a stirred-tank bioreactor (STR). We anticipate that the stable transposition of transfer vectors employing transposase transcripts will be of utility for the future establishment of high-yield VPCs producing pseudotype vector particles with a broader host tropism on a large scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasemin van Heuvel
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Campus Leverkusen, Cologne, Germany
- Institute of Technical Chemistry, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany
| | - Stefanie Schatz
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Campus Leverkusen, Cologne, Germany
- Institute of Technical Chemistry, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany
| | - Marc Hein
- Chair of Bioprocess Engineering, Otto-Von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Magdeburg, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Bioprocess Engineering, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Tanya Dogra
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Bioprocess Engineering, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Daniel Kazenmaier
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Bioprocess Engineering, Magdeburg, Germany
- Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Applied Sciences Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
| | - Natalie Tschorn
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Campus Leverkusen, Cologne, Germany
- Institute of Technical Chemistry, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University Hannover, Hanover, Germany
| | - Yvonne Genzel
- Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Bioprocess Engineering, Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Jörn Stitz
- Research Group Medical Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Campus Leverkusen, Cologne, Germany
- *Correspondence: Jörn Stitz,
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Tschorn N, Söhngen C, Berg K, Stitz J. Ecotropic HIV-1 vectors pseudotyped with R-peptide-deleted envelope protein variants reveal improved gene transfer efficiencies. Virology 2022; 577:124-130. [PMID: 36343471 DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2022.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2022] [Revised: 09/22/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Viral vectors derived from human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) mediate efficient stable gene transduction. Consequently, these vectors are utilized in gene therapeutic approaches. We here aimed for improving HIV-1 pseudotype vector formation using envelope proteins (Env) of ecotropic murine leukemia virus (MLV) suffering deletions of the R-peptide and further amino acid substitutions in their cytoplasmatic domains. All examined Env variants revealed cell-surface expression and showed elevated fusogenicity as compared to wildtype (eMLV-wt) Env but failed to efficiently pseudotype MLV particles. However, two variants generated ecotropic HIV-1 pseudotype vectors with superior infectivity. Most importantly, pseudotyping with the variant eMLV-GaLVΔR encompassing the R-peptide-deleted cytoplasmic domain of the gibbon ape leukemia virus Env yielded titers three-fold higher than HIV(eMLV-wt) vectors. We anticipate that superior ecotropic HIV(eMLV-GaLVΔR) pseudotype vectors will be of utility in preclinical gene therapy studies aiming at the genetic modification of primary murine cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Tschorn
- Research Group Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln-University of Applied Sciences, Campusplatz 1, 51379, Leverkusen, Germany; Institute of Technical Chemistry, Leibniz University Hannover, Callinstraße 5, 30167, Hannover, Germany
| | - Christian Söhngen
- Research Group Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln-University of Applied Sciences, Campusplatz 1, 51379, Leverkusen, Germany
| | - Karen Berg
- Research Group Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln-University of Applied Sciences, Campusplatz 1, 51379, Leverkusen, Germany
| | - Jörn Stitz
- Research Group Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Faculty of Applied Natural Sciences, TH Köln-University of Applied Sciences, Campusplatz 1, 51379, Leverkusen, Germany.
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Rosengarten JF, Schatz S, Wolf T, Barbe S, Stitz J. Components of a HIV-1 vaccine mediate virus-like particle (VLP)-formation and display of envelope proteins exposing broadly neutralizing epitopes. Virology 2022; 568:41-48. [DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2022.01.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Revised: 01/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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