Combining regulated and constitutive protein expression significantly boosts protein expression by increasing productivity without affecting CHO cell growth

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are commonly used for the expression of therapeutic proteins. To increase the titer output of CHO production cultures either specific productivity (Qp), growth, or both need to be increased. Generally, Qp and growth are inversely correlated and cell lines with high Qp have slower growth and vice versa. During the cell line development (CLD) process, the faster-growing cells tend to take over the culture and represent the majority of the isolated clones post single cell cloning. In this study, combinations of regulated and constitutive expression systems were used to supertransfect targeted integration (TI) cell lines expressing the same antibody either constitutively or under-regulated expression. Clone screening with a hybrid expression system (inducible + constitutive) allowed identification and selection of higher titer clones under uninduced conditions, without a negative impact on cell growth during clone selection and expansion. Induction of the regulated promoter(s) during the production phase increased the Qp without negatively affecting growth, resulting in approximately twofold higher titers (from 3.5 to 6–7 g/L). This was also confirmed using a 2-site TI host where the gene of interest was expressed inducibly from Site 1 and constitutively from Site 2. Our findings suggest that such a hybrid expression CLD system can be used to increase production titers, providing a novel approach for expression of therapeutic proteins with high titer market demands.     

Genome-wide analysis of mouse myeloma cell lines expressing therapeutic antibodies

Manufacturing cell line development involves transfection of therapeutic antibody genes into host cell lines and isolation of primary transfectomas that upon subcloning yield high expressing cell lines secreting the desired antibody. In an attempt to increase productivity of these cell lines, we set out to identify cellular genes whose expression level may affect antibody productivity. For this purpose, three different sets of mouse myeloma production cell lines expressing variable levels of three different therapeutic antibodies were subjected to microarray analysis using Murine GeneChip MG_U74Av2 arrays. A total of 456 genes were identified showing significant differential expression between at least one high expresser versus the control or its corresponding low expresser. Among these, 161 genes were common among at least one set of cell lines, and 26 genes were common among two or more sets of cell lines. Functional classification revealed that a majority of these genes have biological process function related to cell metabolism and cell growth. A subset of the 26 genes that were identified as commonly regulated among any two or all three sets of cell lines were selected (by several criteria) for quantitative PCR confirmation of the microarray methodology. The expression level of two genes, Secretory Leukocyte Protease Inhibitor (SLPI) and Cell Division Cycle-6 (Cdc6), correlated with antibody productivity in at least two sets of cell lines, suggesting that they can potentially be utilized as targets for engineering a superior transfection host cell line. Additionally, these genes may be used for screening murine myeloma production cell lines for superior productivity.     

miRNA engineering of CHO cells facilitates production of difficult‐to‐express proteins and increases success in cell line development

In recent years, coherent with growing biologics portfolios also the number of complex and thus difficult‐to‐express (DTE) therapeutic proteins has increased considerably. DTE proteins challenge bioprocess development and can include various therapeutic protein formats such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), multi‐specific affinity scaffolds (e.g., bispecific antibodies), cytokines, or fusion proteins. Hence, the availability of robust and versatile Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) host cell factories is fundamental for high‐yielding bioprocesses. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as potent cell engineering tools to improve process performance of CHO manufacturing cell lines. However, there has not been any report demonstrating the impact of beneficial miRNAs on industrial cell line development (CLD) yet. To address this question, we established novel CHO host cells constitutively expressing a pro‐productive miRNA: miR‐557. Novel host cells were tested in two independent CLD campaigns using two different mAb candidates including a normal as well as a DTE antibody. Presence of miR‐557 significantly enhanced each process step during CLD in a product independent manner. Stable expression of miR‐557 increased the probability to identify high‐producing cell clones. Furthermore, production cell lines derived from miR‐557 expressing host cells exhibited significantly increased final product yields in fed‐batch cultivation processes without compromising product quality. Strikingly, cells co‐expressing miR‐557 and a DTE antibody achieved a twofold increase in product titer compared to clones co‐expressing a negative control miRNA. Thus, host cell engineering using miRNAs represents a promising tool to overcome limitations in industrial CLD especially with regard to DTE proteins. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1495–1510. © 2017 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Binding and enrichment of Escherichia coli spheroplasts expressing inner membrane tethered scFv antibodies on surface immobilized antigens

Anchored periplasmic expression (APEx) is a new method for the isolation of high affinity ligand-binding proteins from large combinatorial libraries (Harvey et al., 2004, Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101(25): 9193-9198). In APEx, proteins are expressed as fusions to a membrane anchor that tethers them onto the periplasmic side of the Escherichia coli inner membrane. Conversion of the cells into spheroplasts and incubation with soluble fluorescently conjugated ligands results in the specific labeling of cells expressing ligand-binding proteins and their subsequent isolation by flow cytometry. Here we show that scFv antibody fragments expressed in the APEx format allow the binding of spheroplasts to immobilized ligands. ScFv antibodies specific for the cardiac glycoside digoxin or for the protective antigen (PA) of Bacillus anthracis as a negative control were expressed in E. coli as fusions to either N-terminal or C-terminal membrane anchoring domains. Only the C-terminally anchored fusions resulted in specific recognition and binding of spheroplasts onto TentaGel beads with immobilized antigen. Following three rounds of flow cytometric screening, spheroplasts expressing anti-digoxin scFvs were enriched 950-fold from a large excess (1,000 x) of spheroplasts expressing anti-PA antibodies. These results indicate that the APEx technology may be employed for the screening of libraries based on binding to insoluble antigens possibly including antigens on cell surfaces.     

Use of CMFDA and CMTMR fluorescent dyes in FACS-based antibody screening

Cell-based immunizations are often used when membrane antigens are difficult to purify. To confirm that an antibody binding to the surface of a cell line is, in fact, binding to the desired antigen, FACS can be performed independently on two cell lines, a transfected cell line expressing the antigen of interest and a control cell line not expressing the antigen. Antibodies binding only to the transfected cell line are then selected for further analysis. This approach can be challenging if a large number of antibodies need to be screened and the antibody quantities are limited. Here we describe a novel method that combines the above two steps of FACS screening into a single step, based on the use of two fluorochromes, CMFDA and CMTMR, to stain transfected and control cell lines, respectively. Antibodies conjugated to a thirdfluorochrome are then added to the combined cells, followed by three-color FACS analysis. The newly modified FACS method is simple, sensitive, and high throughput. It can be used for antibody screening in multiple cell lines simultaneously.     

Transfectomas expressing both secreted and membrane-bound forms of chimeric IgE with anti-viral specificity.

Because of the lack of a cell line expressing on surface and secreting human IgE of known Ag specificity, the construction of a transfectoma line possessing such properties would be useful for studying the roles of surface IgE and the effects of anti-IgE antibodies on IgE-producing B cells. Toward this goal, the human genomic DNA segment encompassing the two exons encoding the membrane anchor peptide of epsilon-chain and their flanking regions was sequenced. Hybrid epsilon and kappa genomic DNA comprising the C regions of human epsilon- and kappa-chains and the H and L chain V regions of the murine mAb BAT123, which reacts with the gp120 envelope protein of HIV-1, were constructed. Mammalian expression vectors containing these fusion genes were used to transfect murine myeloma Sp2/0 cells, and transfectants stably expressing on surface and secreting into culture medium chimeric IgE were obtained. The chimeric IgE showed identical Ag-binding properties as the murine mAb BAT123. Acting in concert with the specific peptide Ag polyvalently coupled to a protein carrier, the chimeric antibody could induce histamine release from human blood basophils. These results demonstrate the potential utility of the transfectoma cells and the chimeric IgE in studying the roles of membrane-bound IgE and effects of anti-IgE antibodies on IgE-producing B cells.     

抗调亡基因bcl-xl过表达提高工程细胞IVCC及目的蛋白表达的研究

用无血清培养基或化学成分明确的培养基生产治疗用重组蛋白已成为趋势。然而,在此条件下凝血因子、糖蛋白激素等微量糖蛋白的表达十分困难,其主要原因之一是在细胞培养过程中工程细胞大量凋亡造成的细胞密度低和生存期短。通过将早期抗凋亡基因导入工程细胞并进行过表达可改善工程细胞的活细胞密度积分（integral viable cell concentration,IVCC）,提高表达量。该研究将bcl-xl基因导入工程细胞,筛选其高表达细胞株,并验证工程细胞的抗凋亡能力,获得了稳定表达抗凋亡蛋白和目的蛋白的工程细胞株。与母细胞相比,稳定表达Bcl－xL的工程细胞的IVCC提高了50％,最终目的蛋白表达增加超过200％,显示抗凋亡基因bcl-xl的过表达可改善工程细胞在无血清悬浮培养过程中的细胞凋亡,提高表达量,为表达人凝血因子、糖蛋白激素等微量糖蛋白奠定了基础。     

酿酒酵母表面展示表达系统及应用

酵母细胞表面展示表达系统是一种固定化表达异源蛋白质的真核展示系统,即把异源靶蛋白基因序列与特定的载体基因序列融合后导入酵母细胞,利用酿酒酵母细胞内蛋白转运到膜表面的机制（GPI锚定）使靶蛋白定位于酵母细胞表面并进行表达。它利用细胞表面展示技术使外源蛋白固定化于细胞表面,从而生产微生物细胞表面蛋白,可应用于生物催化剂、细胞吸附剂、活疫苗、环境治理、蛋白质文库筛选、高亲和抗体、生物传感器、抗原／抗体库构建、免疫检测及亲和纯化、癌症诊断等领域。国内对这一方面研究较少,本文主要介绍了该技术的基本原理、研究现状、应用及其发展前景。     

Human anti-EGFL7 recombinant full-length antibodies selected from a mammalian cell-based antibody display library

Epidermal growth factor-like domain 7 (EGFL7) has been implicated in promoting solid tumor growth and metastasis via stimulating tumor-associated angiogenesis. The advent of antibody display technology (phage, bacteria, and yeast) led to an enormous revival in the use of antibodies as diagnostic and therapeutic tools for fighting cancer. However, problems with protein folding, posttranslational modification, and codon usage still limit the number of improved antibodies that can be obtained. We describe here the isolation of an EGFL7-specific antibody from a mammalian cell-based full-length antibody display library generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Using a novel vector, contained glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchor and restriction enzyme sites NheI and ClaI, antibody libraries are displayed as whole IgG molecules on the cell surface and screened for specific antigen binding by a combination of magnetic beads and measured by cell ELISA. Anti-EGFL7 antibody was successfully isolated from the library. The mammalian cell-based full-length antibody display library is a great potential application for rapid identification and cloning of human mAbs of targeting hepatocellular carcinoma.     

Microfluidic chip-based single-cell cloning to accelerate biologic production timelines

Cell line development (CLD) represents a critical, yet time-consuming, step in the biomanufacturing process as significant resources are devoted to the scale-up and screening of several hundreds to thousands of single-cell clones. Typically, transfected pools are fully recovered from selection and characterized for growth, productivity, and product quality to identify the best pools suitable for single-cell cloning (SCC) using limiting dilution or fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). Here we report the application of the Berkeley Lights Beacon Instrument (BLI) in an early SCC process to accelerate the CLD timeline. Transfected pools were single-cell cloned when viabilities reached greater than 85% or during selection when viabilities were less than 30%. Clones isolated from these accelerated processes exhibited comparable growth, productivity, and product quality to those derived from a standard CLD process and fit into an existing manufacturing platform. With these approaches, up to a 30% reduction in the overall CLD timeline was achieved. Furthermore, early process-derived clones demonstrated equivalent long-term stability compared with standard process-derived clones over 50 population doubling levels (PDLs). Taken together, the data supported early SCC on the BLI as an attractive approach to reducing the standard CLD timeline while still identifying clones with acceptable manufacturability.     

杆状病毒表面展示系统的研究进展

杆状病毒表面展示系统是近几年发展起来的一种新的真核展示系统 ,通过在病毒衣壳蛋白gp6 4插入外源肽、二者融合表达或与特异性的锚定部位结合 ,在病毒表面进行融合表达而筛选出目的活性肽或蛋白。可用来展示需糖基化、二硫键异构化等翻译后修饰才表现功能活性的复杂真核蛋白及构建多肽文库、抗体库等。本文简述了该技术的原理、研究进展、应用及发展前景等。可以预见 ,杆状病毒表面展示技术的发展必将对生命科学及相关领域的发展产生深远的影响     

Accelerated cell line development using two-color fluorescence activated cell sorting to select highly expressing antibody-producing clones

The success of engineered monoclonal antibodies as biopharmaceuticals has generated considerable interest in strategies designed to accelerate development of antibody expressing cell lines. Stable mammalian cell lines that express therapeutic antibodies at high levels typically take 6-12 months to develop. Here we describe a novel method to accelerate selection of cells expressing recombinant proteins (e.g., antibodies) using multiparameter fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) in association with dual intracellular autofluorescent reporter proteins. The method is co-factor-independent and does not require complex sample preparation. Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) clones expressing high levels of recombinant antibody were selected on the basis of a two-color FACS sorting strategy using heavy and light chain-specific fluorescent reporter proteins. We were able to establish within 12 weeks of transfection cell lines with greater than a 38-fold increase in antibody production when compared to the pool from which they were isolated, following a single round of FACS. The method provides a robust strategy to accelerate selection and characterization of clones and builds a foundation for a predictive model of specific productivity based upon on two-color fluorescence.     

Immobilization of Lactococcus lactis to cellulosic material by cellulose‐binding domain of Cellvibrio japonicus

Aims: Immobilization of whole cells can be used to accumulate cells in a bioreactor and thus increase the cell density and potentially productivity, also. Cellulose is an excellent matrix for immobilization purposes because it does not require chemical modifications and is commercially available in many different forms at low price. The aim of this study was to construct a Lactococcus lactis strain capable of immobilizing to a cellulosic matrix. Methods and Results: In this study, the Usp45 signal sequence fused with the cellulose‐binding domain (CBD) (112 amino acids) of XylA enzyme from Cellvibrio japonicus was fused with PrtP or AcmA anchors derived from L. lactis. A successful surface display of L. lactis cells expressing these fusion proteins under the P45 promoter was achieved and detected by whole‐cell ELISA. A rapid filter paper assay was developed to study the cellulose‐binding capability of these recombinant strains. As a result, an efficient immobilization to filter paper was demonstrated for the L. lactis cells expressing the CBD‐fusion protein. The highest immobilization (92%) was measured for the strain expressing the CBD in fusion with the 344 amino acid PrtP anchor. Conclusions: The result from the binding tests indicated that a new phenotype for L. lactis with cellulose‐binding capability was achieved with both PrtP (LPXTG type anchor) and AcmA (LysM type anchor) fusions with CBD. Significance and Impact of the Study: We demonstrated that an efficient immobilization of recombinant L. lactis cells to cellulosic matrix is possible. This is a step forward in developing efficient immobilization systems for lactococcal strains for industrial‐scale fermentations.     

Screening and assessment of performance and molecule quality attributes of industrial cell lines across different fed‐batch systems

The major challenge in the selection process of recombinant cell lines for the production of biologics is the choice, early in development, of a clonal cell line presenting a high productivity and optimal cell growth. Most importantly, the selected candidate needs to generate a product quality profile which is adequate with respect to safety and efficacy and which is preserved across cell culture scales. We developed a high‐throughput screening and selection strategy of recombinant cell lines, based on their productivity in shaking 96‐deepwell plates operated in fed‐batch mode, which enables the identification of cell lines maintaining their high productivity at larger scales. Twelve recombinant cell lines expressing the same antibody with different productivities were selected out of 470 clonal cell lines in 96‐deepwell plate fed‐batch culture. They were tested under the same conditions in 50 mL vented shake tubes, microscale and lab‐scale bioreactors in order to confirm the maintenance of their performance at larger scales. The use of a feeding protocol and culture conditions which are essentially the same across the different scales was essential to maintain productivity and product quality profiles across scales. Compared to currently used approaches, this strategy has the advantage of speeding up the selection process and increases the number of screened clones for getting high‐producing recombinant cell lines at manufacturing scale with the desired performance and quality. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:160–170, 2016     

HER2 monoclonal antibodies that do not interfere with receptor heterodimerization-mediated signaling induce effective internalization and represent valuable components for rational antibody-drug conjugate design

The human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)2 provides an excellent target for selective delivery of cytotoxic drugs to tumor cells by antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) as has been clinically validated by ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla^TM). While selecting a suitable antibody for an ADC approach often takes specificity and efficient antibody-target complex internalization into account, the characteristics of the optimal antibody candidate remain poorly understood. We studied a large panel of human HER2 antibodies to identify the characteristics that make them most suitable for an ADC approach. As a model toxin, amenable to in vitro high-throughput screening, we employed Pseudomonas exotoxin A (ETA’) fused to an anti-kappa light chain domain antibody. Cytotoxicity induced by HER2 antibodies, which were thus non-covalently linked to ETA’, was assessed for high and low HER2 expressing tumor cell lines and correlated with internalization and downmodulation of HER2 antibody-target complexes. Our results demonstrate that HER2 antibodies that do not inhibit heterodimerization of HER2 with related ErbB receptors internalize more efficiently and show greater ETA’-mediated cytotoxicity than antibodies that do inhibit such heterodimerization. Moreover, stimulation with ErbB ligand significantly enhanced ADC-mediated tumor kill by antibodies that do not inhibit HER2 heterodimerization. This suggests that the formation of HER2/ErbB-heterodimers enhances ADC internalization and subsequent killing of tumor cells. Our study indicates that selecting HER2 ADCs that allow piggybacking of HER2 onto other ErbB receptors provides an attractive strategy for increasing ADC delivery and tumor cell killing capacity to both high and low HER2 expressing tumor cells.     

HER2 monoclonal antibodies that do not interfere with receptor heterodimerization-mediated signaling induce effective internalization and represent valuable components for rational antibody-drug conjugate design

The human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER)2 provides an excellent target for selective delivery of cytotoxic drugs to tumor cells by antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) as has been clinically validated by ado-trastuzumab emtansine (Kadcyla^TM). While selecting a suitable antibody for an ADC approach often takes specificity and efficient antibody-target complex internalization into account, the characteristics of the optimal antibody candidate remain poorly understood. We studied a large panel of human HER2 antibodies to identify the characteristics that make them most suitable for an ADC approach. As a model toxin, amenable to in vitro high-throughput screening, we employed Pseudomonas exotoxin A (ETA’) fused to an anti-kappa light chain domain antibody. Cytotoxicity induced by HER2 antibodies, which were thus non-covalently linked to ETA’, was assessed for high and low HER2 expressing tumor cell lines and correlated with internalization and downmodulation of HER2 antibody-target complexes. Our results demonstrate that HER2 antibodies that do not inhibit heterodimerization of HER2 with related ErbB receptors internalize more efficiently and show greater ETA’-mediated cytotoxicity than antibodies that do inhibit such heterodimerization. Moreover, stimulation with ErbB ligand significantly enhanced ADC-mediated tumor kill by antibodies that do not inhibit HER2 heterodimerization. This suggests that the formation of HER2/ErbB-heterodimers enhances ADC internalization and subsequent killing of tumor cells. Our study indicates that selecting HER2 ADCs that allow piggybacking of HER2 onto other ErbB receptors provides an attractive strategy for increasing ADC delivery and tumor cell killing capacity to both high and low HER2 expressing tumor cells.     

Obligate multivalent recognition of cell surface tomoregulin following selection from a multivalent phage antibody library

A therapeutic antibody candidate (AT-19) isolated using multivalent phage display binds native tomoregulin (TR) as a mul-timer not as a monomer. This report raises the importance of screening and selecting phage antibodies on native antigen and reemphasizes the possibility that potentially valuable antibodies are discarded when a monomeric phage display system is used for screening. A detailed live cell panning selection and screening method to isolate multivalently active antibodies is described. AT-19 is a fully human antibody recognizing the cell surface protein TR, a proposed prostate cancer target for therapeutic antibody internalization. AT-19 was isolated from a multivalent single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody library rescued with hyperphage. The required multivalency for isolation of AT-19 is supported by fluorescence activated cell sorting data demonstrating binding of the multivalent AT-19 phage particles at high phage concentrations and failure of monovalent particles to bind. Pure monomeric scFv AT-19 does not bind native receptor on cells, whereas dimeric scFv or immunoglobulin G binds with nanomolar affinity. The isolation of AT-19 antibody with obligate bivalent binding activity to native TR is attributed to the use of a multivalent display of scFv on phage and the method for selecting and screening by alternate use of 2 recombinant cell lines.