Goat mammary epithelial cells provide a better expression system for production of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 compared to Chinese hamster ovarian cells

Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 (BMP2), a member of the Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) super family of proteins and is instrumental in the repair of fractures. The synthesis of BMP2 involves extensive post-translational processing and several studies have demonstrated the abysmally low production of rhBMP2 in eukaryotic systems, which may be due to the short half-life of the bioactive protein. Consequently, production costs of rhBMP2 are quite high, limiting its availability to the general populace. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify better in-vitro systems for large scale production of rhBMP2. In the present study, we have carried out a comparative analysis of rhBMP2 production by the conventionally used Chinese Hamster ovarian cells (CHO) and goat mammary epithelial cells (GMEC), upon transfection with appropriate construct. Udder gland cells are highly secretory, and we reasoned that such cells may serve as a better in-vitro model for large scale production of rhBMP2. Our results indicated that the synthesis and secretion of bioactive rhBMP2 by goat mammary epithelial cells was significantly higher as compared to that by CHO-K1 cells. Our results provide strong evidence that GMECs may serve as a better alternative to other mammalian cells used for therapeutic protein production.     

WAY-100635 antagonist-induced plasticity of 5-HT receptors: regulatory differences between a stable cell line and an in vivo native system

We present evidence that the 5-hydroxytryptamine(1A) (5-HT(1A)) receptor antagonist, N-{2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]-ethyl}-N-(2-pyridinyl)cyclohexanecarboxamide (WAY-100635), can induce receptor internalization in a human (h)5-HT(1A) receptor Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1) cell system. Exposure of h5-HT(1A) CHO cells to WAY-100635 decreased the cell-surface h5-HT(1A) receptor density in a way that was both time (24-72 h) and concentration (1-100 nm) dependent.[(3)H]WAY-100635 and [(3)H]8-hydroxy-dipropylaminotetralin ([(3)H]8-OH-DPAT) saturation analyses demonstrated a significant reduction (50-60%) in total h5-HT(1A) receptor number in the WAY-100635-treated (100 nm; 72 h) compared with control cells. In WAY-100635-treated cells, the 8-OH-DPAT-mediated inhibition of forskolin (FSK)-stimulated cAMP accumulation was right-shifted and the maximal inhibitory response of 8-OH-DPAT was impaired compared with control cells. Similar results were obtained for 8-OH-DPAT-mediated Ca(2+) mobilization after WAY-100635 treatment. h5-HT(1A) receptors labeled with [(3)H]WAY-100635, as well as [(3)H]4-(2'-Methoxy)-phenyl-1-[2'-(N-2'-pyridinyl)-p-fluorobenzamido]ethyl-piperazine (MPPF), exhibited a time-dependent rate of cellular internalization that was blocked by endocytotic suppressors and was pertussis-toxin insensitive. In contrast, quantitative autoradiographic studies demonstrated that chronic treatment of rats with WAY-100635 for two weeks produced a region-specific increase in the 5-HT(1A) receptor density. In conclusion, prolonged exposure of an h5-HT(1A) cell-based system to the 5-HT(1A) antagonist, WAY-100635, induced a paradoxical internalization of cell surface receptor resulting in depressed functional activity. This suggests that an antagonist can influence 5-HT(1A) receptor recycling in vitro differently to in vivo regulatory conditions.     

Surrobodies with Functional Tails

Surrobodies² are a unique type of binding protein based on the pre-B-cell receptor (pre-BCR). The pre-BCR is transiently expressed during development of the antibody repertoire. Unlike heterotetrameric canonical antibodies that are composed of identical pairs of heavy and light chains, the pre-BCR is a heterohexameric complex composed of identical pairs of heavy chains that are each paired with a two-subunit surrogate light chain (SLC). The SLC contains nonimmunoglobulin-like peptide extensions on each of the two SLC components. This arrangement provides unique opportunities for protein engineering by functional derivatization of these nonimmunoglobulin-like tails. Here we report recombinant fusions to these tails with either a fully active cytokine or with single-chain variable fragment (scFv) domains to generate Surrobodies with unique functions or Surrobodies that are bispecific with respect to targeted binding.     

N-glycosylation influences the latency and catalytic properties of mammalian purple acid phosphatase

Purple acid phosphatase (PAP), also known as tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase or uteroferrin, contains two potential consensus N-glycosylation sites at Asn(97) and Asn(128). In this study, endogenous rat bone PAP was found to possess similar N-glycan structures as rat recombinant PAP heterologously expressed in baculovirus-infected Sf9 insect cells. PAP from Sf9 cells was shown to contain two N-linked oligosaccharides, whereas PAP expressed by mammalian CHO-K1 cells was less extensively glycosylated. The extent of N-glycosylation affected the catalytic properties of the enzyme, as N97Q and N128Q mutants, containing a single oligosaccharide chain, exhibited a lower substrate affinity and catalytic activity compared to those of the fully glycosylated PAP in the native, monomeric state. The differences in substrate affinity and catalytic activity were abolished and partially restored, respectively, by proteolytic cleavage in the loop domain, indicating that the extent of N-glycosylation influences the interaction of the repressive loop domain with catalytically important residues.     

猪细小病毒VP2蛋白主要抗原表位基因真核表达载体的构建及表达

猪细小病毒(Porcine parvovirus,PPV)是引起母猪繁殖障碍的主要病原之一[1],可引起母猪流产、胚胎死亡、胎儿畸形、胎儿木乃伊化及不孕等,还可引起仔猪的皮炎和腹泻.PPV在我国污染非常严重,部分地区阳性率达90%以上[2].PPV能在大多数哺乳动物传代细胞系内长期潜伏感染,而且量少时不易检出,当细胞连续传代时可能引起细胞病变至细胞死亡,有可能给实验室带来较多麻烦.VP2蛋白是该病毒的主要结构蛋白之一,本研究构建含VP2蛋白的主要抗原表位基因的真核表达载体并获得其稳定表达的细胞株.     

Investigation of the bystander effect in CHO-K1 cells

AimInvestigation of the bystander effect in Chinese Hamster Ovary cells (CHO-K1) co-cultured with cells irradiated in the dose range of 0.1–4 Gy of high LET ¹²C ions and X-rays.BackgroundThe radiobiological effects of charged heavy particles on a cellular or molecular level are of fundamental importance in the field of biomedical applications, especially in hadron therapy and space radiation biology.Materials and methodsA heavy ion ¹²C beam from the Heavy Ion Laboratory of the University of Warsaw (HIL) was used to irradiate CHO-K1 cells. Cells were seeded in Petri dishes specially designed for irradiation purposes. Immediately after irradiation, cells were transferred into transwell culture insert dishes to enable co-culture of irradiated and non-irradiated cells. Cells from the membrane and well shared the medium but could not touch each other. To study bystander effects, a clonogenic survival assay was performed.ResultsThe survival fraction of cells co-cultured with cells irradiated with ¹²C ions and X-rays was not reduced.ConclusionsThe bystander effect was not observed in these studies.     

孤儿G蛋白偶联受体hGPCRc的亚细胞定位及组织分布

利用相关生物信息学软件,对从人结肠组织克隆所得某一孤儿G蛋白偶联受体(orphanGprotein_coupledreceptors ,oGPCRs)成员hGPCRc的氨基酸序列进行分析显示,hGPCRc对应的氨基酸序列组成了七个跨膜区段的结构域,具备GPCR的结构特征;然后,将hGPCRc之cDNA与绿色荧光载体pEGFP-N₁ 构建GFP_hGPCRc表达载体,以空白质粒pEGFP-N₁ 作对照,转染CHO-K₁ 细胞,在激光扫描共聚焦显微镜下观察到空白质粒pEGFP-N₁ 转染的细胞表达了GFP并均匀分布于整个细胞,而GFP_hGPCRc转染的细胞观察到荧光清晰聚集于细胞膜和各细胞器质膜上,因而hGPCRc蛋白定位于膜上并稳定表达,与软件分析结果相一致;最后,以RT_PCR检测hGPCRc在2 0周龄胎儿重要组织器官及部分成人组织中的表达情况,结果显示hGPCRc在人心、肾、小脑及结肠等组织均有表达,但在肝、大脑、小肠及肌肉等组织里未检测到表达。该表达谱对于进一步认识hGPCRc在胚胎发育中的作用及生理功能提供了线索。     

Intracellular trehalose via transporter TRET1 as a method to cryoprotect CHO-K1 cells

Trehalose is a promising natural cryoprotectant, but its cryoprotective effect is limited due to difficulties in transmembrane transport. Thus, expressing the trehalose transporter TRET1 on various mammalian cells may yield more trehalose applications. In this study, we ran comparative cryopreservation experiments between the TRET1-expressing CHO-K1 cells (CHO-TRET1) and the CHO-K1 cells transfected with an empty vector (CHO-vector). The experiments involve freezing under various trehalose concentrations in an extracellular medium. The freeze-thawing viabilities of CHO-TRET1 cells are higher than those of CHO-vector cells for most freezing conditions. This result differs from control experiments with a transmembrane type cryoprotectant, dimethyl sulfoxide (Me₂SO), which had similar viabilities in each condition for both cell types. We conclude that the trehalose loaded into the cells with TRET1 significantly improves the cryoprotective effect. The higher viabilities occurred when the extracellular trehalose concentration exceeded 200 mM, with 250–500 mM being optimal, and a cooling rate below 30 K/min, with 5–20 K/min being optimal.     

Caspase inhibition prevents staurosporine-induced apoptosis in CHO-K1 cells

Apoptosis is a distinct form of programmed cell death that plays an important role in many biological processes.Although the phenotypes of apoptotic cells are well documented, little is known of the central mechanismleading to programmed cell death. Over the past few years, a number of ICE/CED-3 family proteases(also termed caspases) have been discovered and implicated as the common effectors of apoptosis. Inthis report, we demonstrate that induction of apoptosis in CHO-K1 cells by staurosporine, a broad spectruminhibitor of protein kinases, results in an increase in DEVD-dependent protease activity. These events werefollowed by nuclear DNA fragmentation and cell death. Inhibition of the DEVD-cleaving activity by a synthetictetrapeptide inhibitor DEVD-CHO, blocked staurosporine-induced downstream apoptotic phenotypes, suchas morphological characteristics and DNA fragmentation. These results suggest that staurosporine-inducedapoptosis in CHO-K1 cells is mediated through the CPP32/caspase-3-like cysteine proteases.     

Rapid Swelling of a CHO-K1 Aspartate/Glutamate Transport Mutant in Hypo-osmotic Medium

Two Chinese hamster ovary cell (CHO-K1) mutants selected for defective glutamate transport via system X⁻ _AG are also highly permeable to small neutral molecules. Light microscopy demonstrated that exposure of one of these mutants, Ed-A1, to hypo-osmotic medium led to extremely rapid swelling, presumably due to increased water flux. When placed in 20% saline, Ed-A1 cells swelled to three times their original volume within 15 sec, a sixfold larger increase than parental CHO-K1. In spite of this rapid volume increase, mutant and wild-type cells remained viable for 20 min in dilute saline. A regulatory volume decrease in Ed-A1, and the continual swelling of CHO-K1, resulted in the two cells achieving equal size after 5 min in 20% saline. The time course of these volume changes permitted analysis of large numbers of cells by a hydrodynamic technique, steric field flow fractionation (FFF). Steric FFF demonstrated the expected inhibition of osmotic swelling of human erythrocytes by the mercurial, p-chloromercuribenzenesulfonic acid (PCMBS). However, PCMBS increased the apparent swelling rate of Ed-A1 and CHO-K1, suggesting that an aquaporin-like molecule is not responsible for any significant fraction of the water fluxes into either line. PCMBS also strongly inhibited aspartate transport by system X⁻ _AG. By taking advantage of their different swelling rates in hypotonic medium, steric FFF can separate mixtures of CHO-K1 and Ed-A1. Received: 2 August 1996/Revised: 25 October 1996