Intronic Positioning Maximizes Co-expression and Co-amplification of Nonselectable Heterologous Genes

High levels of recombinant CYP3A4 expression in Chinese hamster ovary cells are modulated by coexpressed human P450 reductase and hemin supplementation

Expression of recombinant cytochrome P450s (P450s) in mammalian cells has been used as a powerful tool to study these enzymes. However, the activity of CYP3A4 expressed in several stable mammalian cell lines was much lower than native enzyme in human liver. The low level of recombinant CYP3A4 may have been due to the low copy number of the cDNA. In addition, the low activity is caused by the low level of P450 reductase in these cells. To achieve high levels of CYP3A4 expression, we employed gene amplification of the CYP3A4 cDNA in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells followed by transfection of the P450 reductase cDNA. Using this strategy, we have obtained a cell line, designated D3A4, with high levels of recombinant CYP3A4. The content of spectrally active P450 was 14 pmol/mg total cellular protein. Hemin treatment increased the P450 content 2-fold. Upon coexpression of P450 reductase in DHR/3A4 cells, enzyme activity of CYP3A4 was stimulated 15-fold, despite a 40% decrease in spectrally active P450. Interestingly, the latter effect was not due to a decrease in CYP3A4 mRNA. Treatment of these cells with hemin, however, counteracted the P450 reductase-mediated decrease of spectrally active P450. These data demonstrate that P450 reductase has a strong influence on the levels of recombinant P450 holoenzyme, possibly by modulating the level of heme in CHO cells. Concomitantly our results show that the gene amplification strategy provides a powerful approach to obtain a high level of functional recombinant P450.

High-level production of recombinant proteins in CHO cells using a dicistronic DHFR intron expression vector

We have constructed expression vectors for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells that produce both selectable marker and recombinant cDNA from a single primary transcript via differential splicing. These vectors produce stable CHO cell clones that, when pooled, produce abundant amounts of secreted recombinant proteins compared with the amounts produced by conventional expression approaches that have selectable marker and the cDNA of interest under control of separate transcription units. Our vectors divert most of the transcript to product expression while linking it, at a fixed ratio, to dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) expression to allow selection of stable transfectants. Pools of clones with increased expression of the product gene can be efficiently generated by selection in methotrexate. The high level of expression from pools allows convenient and rapid production of milligram amounts of recombinant proteins.

Stable, high-level expression of a carcinoembryonic antigen-encoding cDNA after transfection and amplification with the dominant and selectable asparagine synthetase marker

The introduction and expression of cloned genes in a wide variety of animal cells requires the convenient use of dominant selectable markers. Very few of these markers can be amplified in copy number, a necessary feature if variable and high-level expression of the gene of interest is required. We describe the successful dominant transfection and amplification of a vector containing the Escherichia coli asparagine synthetase (AS)-encoding gene, asnA, transfected into a variety of human and rodent cell lines. An unlinked co-transfected expression vector containing the CEA cDNA, encoding human carcinoembryonic antigen, can be co-amplified with the asnA marker leading to extremely high levels of CEA synthesis. In addition, we show that the expression of both the asnA marker and the co-transfected CEA construct are stable in normal and amplified transfectants after prolonged culture in the absence of selective pressure.