Unstable expression of recombinant antibody during long-term culture of CHO cells is accompanied by histone H3 hypoacetylation

The gradual loss of recombinant protein expression in CHO cell lines during prolonged subculture is a common issue, referred to as instability, which seriously affects the industrial production processes of therapeutic proteins. Loss of recombinant gene copies, due to the genetic instability of CHO cells, and epigenetic silencing of transgene sequences, are the main reported causes of production instability. To increase our understanding on the molecular mechanisms inherent to CHO cells involved in production instability, we explored the molecular features of stable and unstable antibody producing cell lines obtained without gene amplification, to exclude the genetic instability induced by the gene amplification process. The instability of recombinant antibody production during long-term culture was caused by a 48–53 % decrease in recombinant mRNA levels without significant loss of recombinant gene copies, but accompanied by a ~45 % decrease in histone H3 acetylation (H3ac). Thus, our results suggest a critical role of H3ac in the stability of recombinant protein production.