腺病毒E1B-19K基因过表达对HEK293细胞生长和代谢的影响

细胞凋亡是动物细胞大规模培养中影响活细胞密度和目的产品质量的重要因素,过表达抗凋亡基因是目前常用的提高工程细胞凋亡抗性的一种策略。拟在HEK293细胞中过表达腺病毒E1B-19K基因,挑取了不同E1B-19K表达水平的单克隆细胞,考察在不同培养条件下细胞的凋亡水平和代谢情况。E1B-19K的过表达可显著增强细胞在低葡萄糖、低血清和无谷氨酰胺3种培养条件下的抗凋亡能力,使凋亡细胞比例降低60%~80%;E1B-19K的过表达可使批次培养HEK293细胞的衰退期延迟2天,而对细胞的葡萄糖、乳酸和谷氨酰胺等的代谢无显著影响。结果表明,过表达E1B-19K是一种有效减缓HEK293细胞在培养过程中凋亡的策略。     

抗凋亡策略在细胞大规模培养中的应用

随着阐明凋亡发生的分子机制,现在可运用多种方法阻止细胞凋亡的发生。在大规模细胞培养过程中应用这些方法可促进细胞的存活,实现细胞大规模高密度培养,从而提高细胞生产有价值生物技术产品的能力。     

动物细胞培养过程中的细胞凋亡

细胞培养过程中的细胞凋亡是细胞受环境因素的影响而发生的现象。随着对细胞凋亡的分子生物学和细胞生物学了解的深入,显示了有效地控制动物细胞培养中细胞凋亡的巨大潜力。包括采用ＤＮＡ重组技术把抗细胞凋亡的基因导入细胞和在培基中加入具有抗细胞凋亡的生存因子或化合物等手段已用于控制细胞培养过程中的细胞凋亡。这些技术将大大延长细胞达到饱和密度后的培养时间,提高细胞培养系统的生产效率。     

大规模动物细胞培养技术研究进展

利用动物细胞大规模培养技术可生产多种生物制品,为提高细胞活力和表达水平及有利于表达产物的纯化,采用有多种添加成分的无血清培养基培养细胞,选择更有利于细胞生长又可提高培养细胞密度的微载体和条件温和、易操作、气体交换速度快的生物反应器,在线监控细胞生存环境和生理活动,减少培养过程培养基中的抑制因素,可创造更适合细胞生存的环境,提高表达水平,向细胞中导入抗凋亡基因,可提高细胞活性和蛋白产量。利用多也微载体以球转球方式大规模培养动物细胞有很好的发展前景。     

用于生产重组蛋白药物的抗凋亡CHO宿主细胞株的建立

哺乳动物工程细胞在大规模培养生产重组蛋白时很容易发生细胞凋亡,从而导致生产过程提前终止,造成生产成本高昂。细胞代谢产物氨已被证明可以促进细胞凋亡,而线粒体膜整合蛋白Bcl-2可以通过促进线粒体膜完整性而抑制细胞凋亡。本实验应用谷氨酰胺合成酶加压系统在CHO工程细胞中高效表达中国仓鼠Bcl-2蛋白,使细胞具有抗凋亡能力的同时,利用谷氨酸和氨合成谷氨酰胺而有效降低培养基中氨的含量,从而达到抑制细胞凋亡的目的。     

动物细胞培养过程中的细胞自然凋亡

细胞培养过程中的细胞自然凋亡是细胞受环境压力的影响而发生的现象。随着细胞自然凋亡的分子生物学和生物化学研究的深入,对以动物细胞产品生产为目的的细胞培养产业将产生极有价值的影响。采用DNA重组技术把预防细胞自然凋亡的基因导入细胞和在培基中加入具有抗细胞自然凋亡的化合物等手段已用于预防或减缓细胞培养过程中的细胞自然凋亡。这些技术将大大延长细胞达到饱和密度后的培养时间,从而使细胞培养系统的生产效率得以显著提高。     

利用哺乳动物细胞表达外源蛋白的研究进展

利用哺乳动物细胞表达外源蛋白已广泛应用于生物产品的制备,哺乳动物细胞是表达具有天然活性蛋白的最佳宿主,且具有易被转染,遗传稳定,产物可分泌表达,并易于纯化和大规模生产等方面的优势。本文对选择载体类型,载体元件（包括启动子,增强子,选择标记等）以及在哺乳动物细胞大规模培养过程中培养环境,细胞凋亡的抑制和控制细胞增殖和基因表达的Tet-switch系统等方面的进展作一综述,以探讨提高该系统表达产量的有效方法,更好地应用于生物制品的生产。     

提高哺乳动物工程细胞抗凋亡能力的基因策略

利用哺乳动物细胞发酵生产重组蛋白药物具有细菌、酵母等表达系统所不具备的显著优势,因此在生物制药工程中的重要性越来越突出。哺乳动物细胞对工业生产环境下的各种应激环境耐受能力差,易发生细胞凋亡,严重阻碍了大规模生产,降低了生产效率。细胞凋亡是细胞必经的生物学过程,随着对凋亡机制的深入了解,发展出各种抗凋亡策略,并有望应用于重构更适合工业生产的工程细胞。常用的抗凋亡策略包括:下调凋亡蛋白、上调抗凋亡蛋白、增强生长因子自表达、减少有毒代谢产物生成等。以上策略虽然能在一定程度上提高细胞的抗凋亡能力,但距离满足生产的工程细胞重构还有距离,围绕提高工程细胞的抗凋亡能力,已发展出"凋亡工程"这一重要的技术领域。     

中国仓鼠卵巢细胞及其表达载体的改造

哺乳动物细胞因其表达的外源蛋白最接近天然构象,已成为生产重组蛋白药物的理想系统。其中,中国仓鼠卵巢细胞（CHO）是目前最为常用的表达系统,但这种系统也存在很多缺点,如大规模培养中表达量低、生产成本高、细胞无限度增殖及细胞凋亡等。目前,通过优化培养基配方和培养条件很难从根本上解决上述问题,必须从整个表达系统着手进行改造,其中CHO细胞本身和表达载体的改造最为关键。     

适于无血清贴壁培养的抗凋亡宿主细胞系CHO-IVB2的构建

应用无血清培养基培养CHO细胞时,由于没有血清提供各种贴壁因子,细胞以悬浮的方式生长。在实际的大规模细胞培养中,CHO细胞往往以贴壁方式培养,要么贴壁于悬浮的微载体中,要么贴壁于固定的聚酯盘状介质或中空纤维中,而很少直接悬浮于培养基中。在无血清培养基中,Vitronectin单一组分可以促使CHO细胞的贴壁和扩增。通过双表达lgf-1和Bcl-2基因,已经构建了可以在无蛋白培养基IMEM中抗凋亡生长的细胞株CHO-IB3。在此基础上,构建了可以同时表达Igf-1、Vitronectin和Bcl-2三个蛋白的三顺反子表达载体pCI—NII—IVB。将该载体转染于CHO—dhfr^-细胞中,构建了一个细胞株CHO—IVB2。该细胞株可以在无蛋白培养基中抗凋亡生长,适于以贴壁的方式大规模培养,用于大量生产外源目的蛋白。     

Population-based modeling of the progression of apoptosis in mammalian cell culture

The production of biopharmaceuticals from mammalian cell culture is hindered by apoptosis, which is the primary cause of cell death in these cultures. As a tool for optimization of culture yield, this study presents a population-based model describing the progression of apoptosis in a monoclonal antibody (mAb)-producing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell culture. Because mAb production does not cease when apoptosis begins, the model was designed to incorporate subpopulations at various stages in the progression of apoptosis. The model was validated against intracellular measurements of caspase activity as well as cell density, nutrient levels, and toxic metabolites. Since the specific details of apoptotic mechanisms have not been elucidated in this cell line, we employed a model comparison analysis that suggests the most plausible pathways of activation.     

Links between metabolism and apoptosis in mammalian cells: applications for anti-apoptosis engineering

Production of complex recombinant proteins requires the culture of mammalian cells in bioreactors. Inherent in these cultures is the problem of cell death, which can result from nutrient depletion, byproduct accumulation, and other bioreactor stresses which signal the cell to die through apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Apoptosis is a highly regulated pathway of both pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins that promote cell survival or death, and cell engineering efforts to inhibit the apoptosis pathway have led to increased culture viability and recombinant protein production. Originally, the exclusive function of many of these pathway proteins was believed to be binding at the mitochondria and regulating apoptosis through modulation of the mitochondria permeability. While this protein functionality does still hold true, it is now evident that these proteins also include roles in the metabolic processes of the mitochondria. Furthermore, apoptosis pathway proteins in other organelles within the cell may also both modulate apoptosis and metabolism. This review first details the known links that exist between apoptosis proteins and metabolic functions in the cytosol, mitochondria, and endoplasmic reticulum. Second, the review turns to look at potentially new cell engineering strategies that are linked to metabolism for improving cell culture viability and protein production.     

Transforming growth factor-beta1 is responsible for maturation-dependent spontaneous apoptosis of cultured gastric pit cells

In this study, we established a system of high concentration serum-dependent spontaneous apoptosis of guinea pig gastric pit cells in primary culture, which seems to mimic the spontaneous apoptosis of matured gastric pit cells at gastric surface in vivo. In addition to induction of the spontaneous apoptosis, cell growth was inhibited in the presence of 10% serum compared with 0.5% serum. Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1), which is known to cause both apoptosis and growth inhibition in mammalian cells, was present in serum of both fetal calf and guinea pig. The addition of recombinant TGF-beta1 to the culture medium containing 0.5% fetal calf serum caused both induction of apoptosis and inhibition of cell growth. On the other hand, immunodepletion of TGF-beta1 from fetal calf serum caused inability to induce both the spontaneous apoptosis and inhibition of cell growth. These data suggest that TGF-beta1 is involved in the spontaneous apoptosis of guinea pig gastric pit cells in primary culture.     

The growth factor inhibitor suramin reduces apoptosis and cell aggregation in protein-free CHO cell batch cultures

We have previously shown that Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells capable of growing in medium free of exogenous proteins die by apoptosis during all stages of a batch culture (Zanghi et al., 1999). On the basis of the hypothesis that extracellular death factors might be important in apoptosis under these conditions, we examined the effect of the growth factor inhibitor and antitumor agent suramin on CHO cell growth and apoptosis in serum-free culture. Suramin protected against apoptosis during exponential growth, as indicated by the absence of DNA laddering and an increase in cell viability from roughly 70% to above 95%. Suramin also effectively dispersed cell aggregates so that single-cell suspension culture was possible. However, suramin did not protect against apoptosis during the death phase, in contrast to serum, suggesting that antiapoptotic factors in the serum remain to be discovered. The increased viable cell yield following suramin supplementation resulted in a 40% increase in product yield, based on results with cells expressing recombinant secreted alkaline phosphatase. Polysulfated compounds dextran sulfate and polyvinyl sulfate worked nearly as well as suramin in dispersing cell clumps and increasing viable cell yield, which implies that suramin's high sulfate group density may be responsible for its effects in cell culture. In addition, suramin was beneficial for long-term adaptation of CHO cells to protein-free media suspension culture, and the compound was synergistic with insulin in accelerating this adaptation time.     

Metabolic signatures in apoptotic human cancer cell lines

Cancer cells have several specific metabolic features, which have been explored for targeted therapies. Agents that promote apoptosis in tumors are currently considered as a powerful tool for cancer therapeutics. The present study aimed to design a fast, reliable and robust system for metabolite measurements in cells lines to observe impact of apoptosis on the metabolome. For that purpose the NBS (newborn screen) mass spectrometry-based metabolomics assay was adapted for cell culture approach. In HEK 293 and in cancer cell lines HepG2, PC3, and MCF7 we searched for metabolic biomarkers of apoptosis differing from that of necrosis. Already nontreated cell lines revealed distinct concentrations of metabolites. Several metabolites indicative for apoptotic processes in cell culture including aspartate, glutamate, methionine, alanine, glycine, propionyl carnitine (C3-carnitine), and malonyl carnitine (C3DC-carnitine) were observed. In some cell lines metabolite changes were visible as early as 4?h after apoptosis induction and preceeding the detection by caspase 3/7 assay. We demonstrated for the first time that the metabolomic signatures might be used in the tests of efficacy of agents causing apoptosis in cell culture. These signatures could be obtained in fast high-throughput screening.     

Apoptosis may contribute to false-positive results in the in vitro micronucleus test performed in extreme osmolality, ionic strength and pH conditions

Conditions in which clastogens produce positive responses have been increasingly challenged, and several situations have been described in which clastogenic responses would be considered not to be relevant. For example, extreme culture conditions lead to high variations of pH, osmolality or ionic strength. Apoptosis is induced in extreme culture conditions and contributes to false-positive results in the in vitro micronucleus test performed with CTLL-2 cells. These cells can enter apoptosis when exposed to apoptosis stimuli or after IL-2 deprivation, whereas the CTLL-2 Bcl2 cell line is protected from apoptosis due to the over-expression of the apoptosis inhibitor Bcl2 in bcl2-transfected CTLL-2 cells. The two cell lines were treated in extreme culture conditions of either pH or osmolality or were submitted to high ionic strength. The apoptosis level was measured in parallel with the in vitro micronucleus test using the annexin V-FITC method. Data obtained in the two cell lines suggested that apoptosis caused by extreme culture condition induces the formation of micronucleated cells, which leads to false-positive results in the in vitro micronucleus test.     

Potent inhibition of cell density-dependent apoptosis and enhancement of survival by dimethyl sulfoxide in human myeloblastic HL-60 cells

Human myeloblastic cell line HL-60 cells undergo apoptosis during in vitro culture in a cell density-dependent manner, and this cell density-dependent apoptosis was observed when the concentration of cultured cells exceeded 8–10 × 10⁵ cells/ml. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a differentiation inducer of HL-60 cells, did not amplify, but rather potently inhibited, this apoptosis. In a low density culture condition, DMSO attenuated proliferation of HL-60 cells in spite of its inhibition of apoptosis. In contrast, DMSO did support cell survival under high cell density conditions, and DMSO-treated HL-60 cells reached an extremely high concentration of 2–3 × 10⁶ cells/ml, a condition which could never be possible in a usual culture environment. Thus, DMSO exerted dual effects on cell proliferation, i.e., growth inhibition and apoptosis inhibition, and the sum of these effects resulted in an apparently distinct phenomenon according to the culture conditions including cell density. J. Cell. Physiol. 174:135–143, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Apoptosis may contribute to false-positive results in the in vitro micronucleus test performed in extreme osmolality, ionic strength and pH conditions

Conditions in which clastogens produce positive responses have been increasingly challenged, and several situations have been described in which clastogenic responses would be considered not to be relevant. For example, extreme culture conditions lead to high variations of pH, osmolality or ionic strength. Apoptosis is induced in extreme culture conditions and contributes to false-positive results in the in vitro micronucleus test performed with CTLL-2 cells. These cells can enter apoptosis when exposed to apoptosis stimuli or after IL-2 deprivation, whereas the CTLL-2 Bcl2 cell line is protected from apoptosis due to the over-expression of the apoptosis inhibitor Bcl2 in bcl2-transfected CTLL-2 cells. The two cell lines were treated in extreme culture conditions of either pH or osmolality or were submitted to high ionic strength. The apoptosis level was measured in parallel with the in vitro micronucleus test using the annexin V-FITC method. Data obtained in the two cell lines suggested that apoptosis caused by extreme culture condition induces the formation of micronucleated cells, which leads to false-positive results in the in vitro micronucleus test.     

Effects of three-dimensional culturing on osteosarcoma cells grown in a fibrous matrix: analyses of cell morphology, cell cycle, and apoptosis

Osteosarcoma cells were cultured in stirred tank bioreactors with either a fibrous matrix or nonporous microcarriers to study the environmental effects on cell growth, morphology, cell cycle, and apoptosis. Cell cycle and apoptosis were analyzed using flow cytometry and visualized using confocal laser scanning microscopy and fluorescence microscopy. The three-dimensional (3-D) fibrous culture had better cell growth and higher metabolic rates than the two-dimensional (2-D) microcarrier culture because cells in the fibrous matrix were protected from shear stress and had lower apoptosis and cell death even under suboptimal conditions (e.g., nutrient depletion). The polyester fibrous matrix used in this study also exhibited the capability of selectively retaining viable and nonapoptotic cells and disposing apoptotic and nonviable cells. Consequently, very few apoptotic cells were found in the fibrous matrix even in the long-term (1 month) T-flask culture. In the continuous culture with packed fibrous matrixes for cell support, most cells were arrested in the G1/G0 phase after 4 days. Decreasing the dissolved oxygen level from 60 to 10% air saturation did not significantly change cell cycle and apoptosis, which remained low at approximately 15%. These results could explain why the fibrous bed bioreactor had good long-term stability and was advantageous for production of non-growth-associated proteins by animal cell cultures.