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Marschall L, Gottimukkala CB, Kayal B, Veeraraghavan VM, Mandal SK, Bandyopadhyay S, Herwig C. Temperature Upshifts in Mammalian Cell Culture: A Suitable Strategy for Biosimilar Monoclonal Antibodies? Bioengineering (Basel) 2023; 10:1149. [PMID: 37892879 PMCID: PMC10603922 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering10101149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Revised: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Temperature downshifts are the gold standard when setting up control strategies for mammalian cell culture processes. These shifts are performed to prolong production phases and attain heightened levels of productivity. For the development of biosimilars, however, the bottleneck is in achieving a prespecified product quality. In a late-stage development project, we investigated the impact of temperature shifts and other process parameters with the aim of optimizing the glycosylation profile of a monoclonal antibody (mAb). We applied a design of experiments approach on a 3 L scale. The optimal glycosylation profile was achieved when performing a temperature upshift from 35.8 °C to 37 °C. Total afucosylated glycan (TAF) decreased by 1.2%, and galactosylated glycan species (GAL) increased by up to 4.5%. The optimized control strategy was then successfully taken to the manufacturing scale (1000 L). By testing two sets of set points at the manufacturing scale, we demonstrated that the statistical models predicting TAF and GAL trained with small-scale data are representative of the manufacturing scale. We hope this study encourages researchers to widen the screening ranges in process development and investigate whether temperature upshifts are also beneficial for other mAbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Marschall
- TU Wien, Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Research Unit Biochemical Engineering, Gumpendorferstrasse 1a, 1060 Vienna, Austria
- Körber Pharma Austria GmbH, Mariahilfer Straße 88A/1/9, 1070 Vienna, Austria
| | - Chitti Babu Gottimukkala
- Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Biologics, Survey No. 47, Bachupally, Hyderabad 500090, India; (C.B.G.); (B.K.); (V.M.V.); (S.K.M.); (S.B.)
| | - Biswajit Kayal
- Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Biologics, Survey No. 47, Bachupally, Hyderabad 500090, India; (C.B.G.); (B.K.); (V.M.V.); (S.K.M.); (S.B.)
| | - Veerabhadra Madurai Veeraraghavan
- Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Biologics, Survey No. 47, Bachupally, Hyderabad 500090, India; (C.B.G.); (B.K.); (V.M.V.); (S.K.M.); (S.B.)
| | - Samir Kumar Mandal
- Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Biologics, Survey No. 47, Bachupally, Hyderabad 500090, India; (C.B.G.); (B.K.); (V.M.V.); (S.K.M.); (S.B.)
| | - Suman Bandyopadhyay
- Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Biologics, Survey No. 47, Bachupally, Hyderabad 500090, India; (C.B.G.); (B.K.); (V.M.V.); (S.K.M.); (S.B.)
| | - Christoph Herwig
- TU Wien, Faculty of Technical Chemistry, Research Unit Biochemical Engineering, Gumpendorferstrasse 1a, 1060 Vienna, Austria
- Körber Pharma Austria GmbH, Mariahilfer Straße 88A/1/9, 1070 Vienna, Austria
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Marschall L, Taylor C, Zahel T, Kunzelmann M, Wiedenmann A, Presser B, Studts J, Herwig C. Specification-driven acceptance criteria for validation of biopharmaceutical processes. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022; 10:1010583. [PMID: 36213075 PMCID: PMC9537461 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.1010583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Intermediate acceptance criteria are the foundation for developing control strategies in process validation stage 1 in the pharmaceutical industry. At drug substance or product level such intermediate acceptance criteria for quality are available and referred to as specification limits. However, it often remains a challenge to define acceptance criteria for intermediate process steps. Available guidelines underpin the importance of intermediate acceptance criteria, because they are an integral part for setting up a control strategy for the manufacturing process. The guidelines recommend to base the definition of acceptance criteria on the entirety of process knowledge. Nevertheless, the guidelines remain unclear on how to derive such limits. Within this contribution we aim to present a sound data science methodology for the definition of intermediate acceptance criteria by putting the guidelines recommendations into practice (ICH Q6B, 1999). By using an integrated process model approach, we leverage manufacturing data and experimental data from small scale to derive intermediate acceptance criteria. The novelty of this approach is that the acceptance criteria are based on pre-defined out-of-specification probabilities, while also considering manufacturing variability in process parameters. In a case study we compare this methodology to a conventional +/- 3 standard deviations (3SD) approach and demonstrate that the presented methodology is superior to conventional approaches and provides a solid line of reasoning for justifying them in audits and regulatory submission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Marschall
- Körber Pharma Software, Vienna, Austria
- TU Wien, Institute for Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christopher Taylor
- Körber Pharma Software, Vienna, Austria
- TU Wien, Institute for Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Marco Kunzelmann
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | | | - Beate Presser
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | - Joey Studts
- Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co, Biberach an der Riss, Germany
| | - Christoph Herwig
- Körber Pharma Software, Vienna, Austria
- TU Wien, Institute for Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering, Vienna, Austria
- *Correspondence: Christoph Herwig,
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Zahel T, Marschall L, Abad S, Vasilieva E, Maurer D, Mueller EM, Murphy P, Natschläger T, Brocard C, Reinisch D, Sagmeister P, Herwig C. Workflow for Criticality Assessment Applied in Biopharmaceutical Process Validation Stage 1. Bioengineering (Basel) 2017; 4:bioengineering4040085. [PMID: 29023375 PMCID: PMC5746752 DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering4040085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Revised: 10/05/2017] [Accepted: 10/07/2017] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Identification of critical process parameters that impact product quality is a central task during regulatory requested process validation. Commonly, this is done via design of experiments and identification of parameters significantly impacting product quality (rejection of the null hypothesis that the effect equals 0). However, parameters which show a large uncertainty and might result in an undesirable product quality limit critical to the product, may be missed. This might occur during the evaluation of experiments since residual/un-modelled variance in the experiments is larger than expected a priori. Estimation of such a risk is the task of the presented novel retrospective power analysis permutation test. This is evaluated using a data set for two unit operations established during characterization of a biopharmaceutical process in industry. The results show that, for one unit operation, the observed variance in the experiments is much larger than expected a priori, resulting in low power levels for all non-significant parameters. Moreover, we present a workflow of how to mitigate the risk associated with overlooked parameter effects. This enables a statistically sound identification of critical process parameters. The developed workflow will substantially support industry in delivering constant product quality, reduce process variance and increase patient safety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Zahel
- Exputec GmbH, Mariahilferstraße 147, 1150 Vienna, Austria.
| | | | - Sandra Abad
- Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Doktor-Boehringer-Gasse 5-11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Elena Vasilieva
- Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Doktor-Boehringer-Gasse 5-11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Daniel Maurer
- Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Doktor-Boehringer-Gasse 5-11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Eric M Mueller
- Versartis Inc., 4200 Bohannon Drive, Suite 250, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
| | - Patrick Murphy
- Versartis Inc., 4200 Bohannon Drive, Suite 250, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.
| | - Thomas Natschläger
- Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Softwarepark 21, 4232 Hagenberg, Austria.
| | - Cécile Brocard
- Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Doktor-Boehringer-Gasse 5-11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Daniela Reinisch
- Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Doktor-Boehringer-Gasse 5-11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
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Wurm DJ, Marschall L, Sagmeister P, Herwig C, Spadiut O. Simple monitoring of cell leakiness and viability in Escherichia coli bioprocesses-A case study. Eng Life Sci 2017; 17:598-604. [PMID: 32624805 DOI: 10.1002/elsc.201600204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2016] [Revised: 09/16/2016] [Accepted: 12/07/2016] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
In a recently published study, we developed a simple methodology to monitor Escherichia coli cell integrity and lysis during bioreactor cultivations, where we intentionally triggered leakiness. In this follow-up study, we used this methodology, comprising the measurement of extracellular alkaline phosphatase to monitor leakiness and flow cytometry to follow viability, to investigate the effect of process parameters on a recombinant E. coli strain producing the highly valuable vascular endothelial growth factor A165 (VEGF-A165) in the periplasm. Since the amount of soluble product was very little (<500 μg/g dry cell weight), we directly linked the effect of the three process parameters temperature, specific uptake rate of the inducer arabinose and specific growth rate (μ) to cell integrity and viability. We found that a low temperature and a high μ were beneficial for cell integrity and that an elevated temperature resulted in reduced viability. We concluded that the recombinant E. coli cells producing VEGF-A165 in the periplasm should be cultivated at low temperature and high μ to reduce leakiness and guarantee high viability. Summarizing, in this follow-up study we demonstrate the usefulness of our simple methodology to monitor leakiness and viability of recombinant E. coli cells during bioreactor cultivations.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Wurm
- Research Division Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Engineering Vienna University of Technology Vienna Austria
| | - Lukas Marschall
- Research Division Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Engineering Vienna University of Technology Vienna Austria
| | - Patrick Sagmeister
- Research Division Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Engineering Vienna University of Technology Vienna Austria
| | - Christoph Herwig
- Research Division Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Engineering Vienna University of Technology Vienna Austria.,Christian Doppler Laboratory for Mechanistic and Physiological Methods for Improved Bioprocesses Institute of Chemical Engineering Vienna University of Technology Vienna Austria
| | - Oliver Spadiut
- Research Division Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Chemical Engineering Vienna University of Technology Vienna Austria.,Christian Doppler Laboratory for Mechanistic and Physiological Methods for Improved Bioprocesses Institute of Chemical Engineering Vienna University of Technology Vienna Austria
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Marschall L, Sagmeister P, Herwig C. Tunable recombinant protein expression in E. coli: promoter systems and genetic constraints. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2017; 101:501-512. [PMID: 27999902 PMCID: PMC5566544 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-016-8045-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2016] [Revised: 11/26/2016] [Accepted: 11/29/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Tuning of transcription is a promising strategy to overcome challenges associated with a non-suitable expression rate like outgrowth of segregants, inclusion body formation, metabolic burden and inefficient translocation. By adjusting the expression rate-even on line-to purposeful levels higher product titres and more cost-efficient production processes can be achieved by enabling culture long-term stability and constant product quality. Some tunable systems are registered for patents or already commercially available. Within this contribution, we discuss the induction mechanisms of various Escherichia coli inherent promoter systems with respect to their tunability and review studies using these systems for expression tuning. According to the current level of knowledge, some promoter systems were successfully used for expression tuning, and in some cases, analytical evidence on single-cell level is still pending. However, only a few studies using tunable strains apply a suitable process control strategy. So far, expression tuning has only gathered little attention, but we anticipate that expression tuning harbours great potential for enabling and optimizing the production of a broad spectrum of products in E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Marschall
- Institute of Chemical Engineering, Research Area Biochemical Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Christoph Herwig
- Institute of Chemical Engineering, Research Area Biochemical Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria.
- Christian Doppler Laboratory for Mechanistic and Physiological Methods for Improved Bioprocesses, Vienna University of Technology, Gumpendorferstrasse 1a/166-4, A-1060, Vienna, Austria.
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Marschall L, Sagmeister P, Herwig C. Tunable recombinant protein expression in E. coli: enabler for continuous processing? Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 2016; 100:5719-28. [PMID: 27170324 PMCID: PMC4957632 DOI: 10.1007/s00253-016-7550-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2016] [Revised: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 04/13/2016] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Tuning of transcription is a powerful process technological tool for efficient recombinant protein production in Escherichia coli. Many challenges such as product toxicity, formation of inclusion bodies, cell death, and metabolic burden are associated with non-suitable (too high or too low) levels of recombinant protein expression. Tunable expression systems allow adjusting the recombinant protein expression using process technological means. This enables to exploit the cell's metabolic capacities to a maximum. Within this article, we review genetic and process technological aspects of tunable expression systems in E. coli, providing a roadmap for the industrial exploitation of the reviewed technologies. We attempt to differentiate the term "expression tuning" from its inflationary use by providing a concise definition and highlight interesting fields of application for this versatile new technology. Dependent on the type of inducer (metabolizable or non-metabolizable), different process strategies are required in order to achieve tuning. To fully profit from the benefits of tunable systems, an independent control of growth rate and expression rate is indispensable. Being able to tackle problems such as long-term culture stability and constant product quality expression tuning is a promising enabler for continuous processing in biopharmaceutical production.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Marschall
- Institute of Chemical Engineering, Research Area Biochemical Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Christoph Herwig
- Exputec GmbH, Vienna, Austria. .,Christian Doppler Laboratory for Mechanistic and Physiological Methods for Improved Bioprocesses, Vienna University of Technology, Gumpendorferstraße 1a/166-4, 1060, Vienna, Austria.
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Muller SR, Huff SY, Goode BL, Marschall L, Chang J, Feinstein SC. Molecular analysis of the nerve growth factor inducible ornithine decarboxylase gene in PC12 cells. J Neurosci Res 1993; 34:304-14. [PMID: 8455208 DOI: 10.1002/jnr.490340307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
In an effort to understand molecular mechanisms by which nerve growth factor (NGF) regulates gene expression, we have isolated a full-length rat cDNA clone encoding ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and utilized this probe to identify and examine the transcriptionally active, NGF inducible ODC gene in rat PC12 cells. This same gene is also responsive to epidermal growth factor, basic fibroblasts growth factor, and dibutyryl cAMP. Primer extension analysis demonstrates that both basal and NGF induced transcription of the ODC gene utilize the same major transcriptional start site, demonstrating that NGF acts to increase transcriptional activity at the basal start site as opposed to unmasking an alternative, stronger start site. Functional promoter analysis reveals the presence of a constitutive core promoter residing between positions -201 and +390, relative to the start site of transcription. Additional analyses reveal that sequences in the region -7800 to +2257 are insufficient to mediate NGF induced transcriptional activation, demonstrating that at least some of the regulatory sequences necessary for NGF mediated transcriptional induction of the ODC gene must reside at relatively enormous distances from the transcriptional start site. Such a long distance transcriptional regulatory mechanism is unique when compared with other NGF responsive genes that have been similarly analyzed.
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Affiliation(s)
- S R Muller
- Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara 93106
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