Improvement of Intracellular Traffic System by Overexpression of KDEL Receptor 1 in Antibody‐Producing CHO Cells

The localization of soluble endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperones in the cell organelle is mediated by the C‐terminal KDEL (lysine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid and leucine) motif. This motif is recognized by the KDEL receptor, a seven‐transmembrane protein that cycles between the ER and cis‐Golgi to capture missorted KDEL chaperones from post‐ER compartments in a pH‐dependent manner. The KDEL receptor's target chaperones have a substantial role in protein folding and assembly. In this study, the gene expression level of KDEL receptor 1 shows a moderate upregulation during either ER stress or growth of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in batch culture, while the ER chaperones show higher upregulation. This might indicate the possibility of saturation of the ER retention machinery or at least hindered retention during late stage batch culture in recombinant CHO cells. KDELR1 is overexpressed in a monoclonal antibody‐producing CHO cell line to improve the intracellular chaperone retention rate in the ER. An increase in the specific productivity of IgG1 by 13.2% during the exponential phase, and 23.8% in the deceleration phase of batch culture is observed. This is the first study to focus on the ER retention system as a cell engineering target for enhancing recombinant protein production.     

Multi‐Omics Reveals Impact of Cysteine Feed Concentration and Resulting Redox Imbalance on Cellular Energy Metabolism and Specific Productivity in CHO Cell Bioprocessing

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are currently the primary host cell lines used in biotherapeutic manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and other biopharmaceuticals. Cellular energy metabolism and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress are known to greatly impact cell growth, viability, and specific productivity of a biotherapeutic; but the molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. The authors previously employed multi‐omics profiling to investigate the impact of a reduction in cysteine (Cys) feed concentration in a fed‐batch process and found that disruption of the redox balance led to a substantial decline in cell viability and titer. Here, the multi‐omics findings are expanded, and the impact redox imbalance has on ER stress, mitochondrial homeostasis, and lipid metabolism is explored. The reduced Cys feed activates the amino acid response (AAR), increases mitochondrial stress, and initiates gluconeogenesis. Multi‐omics analysis reveals that together, ER stress and AAR signaling shift the cellular energy metabolism to rely primarily on anaplerotic reactions, consuming amino acids and producing lactate, to maintain energy generation. Furthermore, the pathways are demonstrated in which this shift in metabolism leads to a substantial decline in specific productivity and altered mAb glycosylation. Through this work, meaningful bioprocess markers and targets for genetic engineering are identified.     

Glycosidase activities of the 293 and NS0 cell lines, and of an antibody-producing hybridoma cell line

We have previously demonstrated that Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lysates harbor sialidase, beta-galactosidase, beta-hexosaminidase, and fucosidase activities that can accumulate extracellularly in CHO cell culture, thereby potentially leading to extracellular modification of glycoprotein oligosaccharides. The sialidase activity in CHO cell lysates was surprisingly active and stable at pH 7.5, with a half-life of 57 h at 37 degrees C.We have extended this work to determine whether 293, NS0, or hybridoma cell lysates contain similar glycosidase activities. The pH-activity profiles of beta-galactosidase and beta-hexosaminidase in lysates of these three cell lines resemble the pH-activity profiles for these enzymes in CHO cell lysate, whereas the pH-activity profiles of sialidase and fucosidase appear to be cell-type dependent. Sialidase activities were relatively stable at pH 4.5 in 293, NS0, and hybridoma cell lysates. However, the activities in 293 and NS0 cell lysates were unstable at pH 7.5, with no activity remaining after a 2-h incubation at 37 degrees C. The sialidase activity in hybridoma cell lysate was moderately stable at pH 7.5 with 30% of the activity remaining after a 2-h incubation at 37 degrees C. We conclude that the sialidase activites from 293, NS0, and hybridoma cells have characteristics similar to the vast majority of reported mammalian sialidase activities, and that these activities are markedly differant from the CHO cell sialidase activity.Finally, sialidase, beta-galactosidase, beta-hexosaminidase, and fucosidase activities were measured at pH 7 in cell-free bioreactor supernatants of the hybridoma cell line. As previously observed in CHO cell culture, all four glycosidase activities were present in the hybridoma supernatants. However, the sialidase activity in hybridoma supernatant was an order of magnitude lower than in CHO cell culture supernatant despite the fact that the hybridoma cell lysis rate was an order of magnitude higher. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Alantolactone Induces Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest on Lung Squamous Cancer SK‐MES‐1 Cells

Alantolactone, a sesquiterpene lactone compound, has variety of pharmacological properties, including anti‐inflammatory and antineoplastic effects. In our study, alantolactone inhibited cancer cell proliferation. To explore the mechanisms underlying its antitumor action, we further examined apoptotic cells and cell cycle distribution using flow cytometry analysis. Alantolactone triggered apoptosis and induced cell cycle G1/G0 phase arrest. Furthermore, the expressions of caspases‐8, ‐9, ‐3, PARP, and Bax were significantly upregulated, while antiapoptotic factor Bcl‐2 expression was inhibited. In addition, the expressions of cyclin‐dependent kinase 4 (CDK4), CDK6, cyclin D3, and cyclin D1 were downregulated by alantolactone. Therefore, our findings indicated that alantolactone has an antiproliferative role on lung squamous cancer cells, and it may be a promising chemotherapeutic agent for squamous lung cancer SK‐MES‐1 cells.     

Comparison of Monoclonal Antibodies Aua1 and Ber Ep4 With Anti-Cea For Detecting Carcinoma Cells In Serous Effusions and Distinguishing Them From Mesothelial Cells

Commercially available monoclonal antibodies AUA1, BER EP4 and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) were applied to cell blocks from 95 serous effusions. AUA1 and BER EP4 were reactive with 89% of effusions known to contain carcinoma cells, and anti-CEA with 71%. They also reacted with cells in two effusions from patients with malignant disease which were regarded as negative on conventional cytological examination of Papanicolaou-stained smears. They were negative in all but one of the benign effusions. Using all three antibodies, 95% of effusions containing carcinoma cells were detected. Use of these antibodies could improve the cytological diagnosis of serous effusions.     

Segmented linear modeling of CHO fed‐batch culture and its application to large scale production

We describe a systematic approach to model CHO metabolism during biopharmaceutical production across a wide range of cell culture conditions. To this end, we applied the metabolic steady state concept. We analyzed and modeled the production rates of metabolites as a function of the specific growth rate. First, the total number of metabolic steady state phases and the location of the breakpoints were determined by recursive partitioning. For this, the smoothed derivative of the metabolic rates with respect to the growth rate were used followed by hierarchical clustering of the obtained partition. We then applied a piecewise regression to the metabolic rates with the previously determined number of phases. This allowed identifying the growth rates at which the cells underwent a metabolic shift. The resulting model with piecewise linear relationships between metabolic rates and the growth rate did well describe cellular metabolism in the fed‐batch cultures. Using the model structure and parameter values from a small‐scale cell culture (2 L) training dataset, it was possible to predict metabolic rates of new fed‐batch cultures just using the experimental specific growth rates. Such prediction was successful both at the laboratory scale with 2 L bioreactors but also at the production scale of 2000 L. This type of modeling provides a flexible framework to set a solid foundation for metabolic flux analysis and mechanistic type of modeling. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 785–797. © 2016 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Hexylthiophene‐Featured D–A–π–A Structural Indoline Chromophores for Coadsorbent‐Free and Panchromatic Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

For a sensitizer with a strong π‐conjugation system, a coadsorbent is needed to hinder dye aggregation. However, coadsorption always brings a decrease in dye coverage on the TiO₂ surface. Organic ‘‘D–A–π–A’’ dyes, WS‐6 and WS‐11, are designed and synthesized based on the known WS‐2 material for coadsorbent‐free, dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Compared with the traditional D–π–A structure, these D–A–π–A indoline dyes, with the additional incorporated acceptor unit of benzothiadiazole in the π‐conjugation, exhibit a broad photoresponse, high redox stability, and convenient energy‐level tuning. The attached n‐hexyl chains in both dyes are effective to suppress charge recombination, resulting in a decreased dark current and enhanced open‐circuit voltage. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy studies indicate that both the resistance for charge recombination and the electron lifetime are increased after the introduction of alkyl chains to the dye molecules. Without deoxycholic acid coadsorption, the power‐conversion efficiency of WS‐6 (7.76%) on a 16 μm‐thick TiO₂ film device is 45% higher than that of WS‐2 (5.31%) under the same conditions. The additional n‐hexylthiophene in WS‐11 extends the photoresponse to a panchromatic spectrum but causes a low incident photon‐to‐current conversion efficiency.     

NACM, A Cytopathogenic Protein from Naegleria gruberi, EGs; Purification, Production of Monoclonal Antibody, and the Immunoidentification of a Product that Develops in NACM-treated Vertebrate Cell Cultures

The story of NACM involves the discovery of a deleterious response of cultured vertebrate cells to a component in cell-free lysates prepared from free-living amebae of the genus Naegleria; hence the acronym NACM derived from Naegleria ameba cytopathogenic material. The cellular reaction is the basis for the biological assay that has been fundamental in the study of the action of NACM in a variety of cell cultures. It also has been used in the determination of the physical characteristics, and to monitor the behavior of NACM during isolation procedures. All findings are compatable with the conclusion that NACM is a 35 Kd protein. Recently, the use of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) prepared to amebae-derived purified NACM have resulted in visual display of a product that develops exclusively in NACM-treated cells. That cellular product is shown to be related to NACM by its immunostaining reaction with the MAb; the relationship of the MAb with NACM is demonstrated by its ability to neutralize the biological activity of NACM, and as an immunostain, to react with purified fractions of NACM and with whole amebae. The combination of these observations describes a unique set of interactions in which NACM, an amebic component, identified as a protein, has characteristics of an infectious agent when introduced into cultures of avian and mammalian cells.     

白喉毒素A片段的表达纯化与单克隆抗体制备

白喉毒素 (Diphtheriatoxin ,DT)A片段 (DTA)是白喉毒素的酶活性区 ,也是DT类免疫毒素的关键结构域。DTA蛋白及其单克隆抗体在免疫毒素的毒性机理、检测与纯化研究等方面具有重要价值。通过在E .coli中表达了DTA ,经Q SepharoseFF和Ni²⁺ Sepharose两步层析纯化 ,得到纯度约为 90 %的融合蛋白。以DTA为抗原免疫BalB c小鼠 ,获得了分泌抗DTA特异单抗的杂交瘤细胞株 3B6和 3B9。单抗为IgG1亚型 ,滴度达 1∶10⁶ 以上 ,与DTA的结合可被抗DT马血清竞争抑制。抗DTA单抗用于免疫印迹试验 ,或制备成免疫亲和柱纯化基于DT的重组免疫毒素 ,均获得较好效果 ,为免疫毒素的研究奠定了良好基础     

Model‐based investigation of intracellular processes determining antibody Fc‐glycosylation under mild hypothermia

Despite the positive effects of mild hypothermic conditions on monoclonal antibody (mAb) productivity (q_mAb) during mammalian cell culture, the impact of reduced culture temperature on mAb Fc‐glycosylation and the mechanism behind changes in the glycan composition are not fully established. The lack of knowledge about the regulation of dynamic intracellular processes under mild hypothermia restricts bioprocess optimization. To address this issue, a mathematical model that quantitatively describes Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell behavior and metabolism, mAb synthesis and mAb N‐linked glycosylation profile before and after the induction of mild hypothermia is constructed. Results from this study show that the model is capable of representing experimental results well in all of the aspects mentioned above, including the N‐linked glycosylation profile of mAb produced under mild hypothermia. Most importantly, comparison between model simulation results for different culture temperatures suggests the reduced rates of nucleotide sugar donor production and galactosyltransferase (GalT) expression to be critical contributing factors that determine the variation in Fc‐glycan profiles between physiological and mild hypothermic conditions in stable CHO transfectants. This is then confirmed using experimental measurements of GalT expression levels, thereby closing the loop between the experimental and the computational system. The identification of bottlenecks within CHO cell metabolism under mild hypothermic conditions will aid bioprocess optimization, for example, by tailoring feeding strategies to improve NSD production, or manipulating the expression of specific glycosyltransferases through cell line engineering. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1570–1582. © 2016 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals Inc.