High-level and high-throughput recombinant protein production by transient transfection of suspension-growing human 293-EBNA1 cells

A scalable transfection procedure using polyethylenimine (PEI) is described for the human embryonic kidney 293 cell line grown in suspension. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) and human placental secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) were used as reporter genes to monitor transfection efficiency and productivity. Up to 75% of GFP-positive cells were obtained using linear or branched 25 kDa PEI. The 293 cell line and two genetic variants, either expressing the SV40 large T-antigen (293T) or the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) EBNA1 protein (293E), were tested for protein expression. The highest expression level was obtained with 293E cells using the EBV oriP-containing plasmid pCEP4. We designed the pTT vector, an oriP-based vector having an improved cytomegalovirus expression cassette. Using this vector, 10- and 3-fold increases in SEAP expression was obtained in 293E cells compared with pcDNA3.1 and pCEP4 vectors, respectively. The presence of serum had a positive effect on gene transfer and expression. Transfection of suspension-growing cells was more efficient with linear PEI and was not affected by the presence of medium conditioned for 24 h. Using the pTT vector, >20 mg/l of purified His-tagged SEAP was recovered from a 3.5 l bioreactor. Intracellular proteins were also produced at levels as high as 50 mg/l, representing up to 20% of total cell proteins.     

Transient gene expression: recombinant protein production with suspension-adapted HEK293-EBNA cells

Transient gene expression (TGE) in mammalian cells at the reactor scale is becoming increasingly important for the rapid production of recombinant proteins. We improved a process for transient calcium phosphate-based transfection of HEK293-EBNA cells in a 1-3 L bioreactor volume. Cells were adapted to suspension culture using a commercially available medium (BioWhittaker, Walkersville, MD). Process parameters were optimized using a plasmid reporter vector encoding the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP/CLONTECH, Palo Alto, CA, USA). Using GFP as a marker-protein, we observed by microscopic examination transfection efficiencies between 70-100%. Three different recombinant proteins were synthesized within a timeframe of 7 days from time of transfection to harvest. The first, a human recombinant IgG(1)-type antibody, was secreted into the supernatant of the cell culture and achieved a final concentration of >20 mg/L. An E. coli-derived DNA-binding protein remained intracellular, as expected, but accumulated to such a concentration that the lysate of cells, taken up into the entire culture volume, gave a concentration of 18 mg/L. The third protein, a transmembrane receptor, was expressed at 3-6 x 10(6) molecules/cell.     

Production of a recombinantly expressed laminin fragment by HEK293-EBNA cells cultured in suspension in a dialysis-based bioreactor

Laminin 5 is a multifunctional extracellular matrix protein, which supports epithelial cell adhesion through multiple cell binding sites. For elaborate studies, a 35 kDa fragment localized at the C-terminal extremity of the molecule, the LG4/5 fragment was recombinantly expressed in mammalian HEK293-EBNA cells. As the production of the LG4/5 fragment by adherent cell monolayers was very low (<1 microg/ml), we used the commercially available small scale bioreactor system miniPERM. The HEK293-EBNA transfectants were adapted to grow in suspension in defined medium containing low level of fetal calf serum and produced the recombinant LG4/5 protein with quality consistent with that produced in conventional static cell culture conditions. Cells grew without forming aggregates in the bioreactor and the resulting HEK293-EBNA-LG4/5 cell line was suitable for unlimited passages in the bioreactor. 2.5x10(5) cells/ml were cultured for 25 days to reach the maximal cell density of 1.6x10(7) cells/ml. The quantification of protein synthesis revealed that the highest level of 2.4 mg of recombinant LG4/5 protein was harvested when 10(7) transfected cells/ml were injected in the bioreactor and allowed to grow for 2 days. The mean daily recombinant LG4/5 fragment product yield of 1.2 mg of protein per minifermenter shows that cultivation of HEK293-EBNA transfectants in suspension is highly convenient for the production of recombinant laminin fragments.     

Upregulation of PHLDA2 in Dicer knockdown HEK293 cells

It has been reported that RNAi-dependent chromatin silencing in vertebrates is not restricted to the centromeres. To address whether RNAi machinery could regulate the chromatin structure of imprinted genes, we knocked down Dicer in HEK293 cells and found that the expression of PHLDA2, one of the several genes in the imprinted gene domain of 11p15.5, was specifically upregulated. This was accompanied by a shift towards more activated chromatin at PHLDA2 locus as indicated by change in H3K9 acetylation, however, the methylation state at this locus was not affected. Furthermore, we found that PHLDA2 was downregulated in growth-arrested HEK293 cells induced by either serum deprivation or contact inhibition. This suggests that PHLDA2 upregulation might be a direct result of Dicer depletion rather than the consequence of growth arrest induced by Dicer knockdown. Considering the reports that there is consistent placental outgrowth in PHLDA2 knockout mice and that PHLDA2 overexpression in mice causes growth inhibition, we speculate that PHLDA2 may be a candidate for contributing to the reduced growth rate of Dicer-deficient cells and the very early embryonic lethality in Dicer knockout mice.     

Dicer knockdown induces fibronectin-1 expression in HEK293T cells via induction of Egr1

Background

Dicer is a multidomain ribonuclease III enzyme involved in the biogenesis of microRNAs (miRNAs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs); depletion of Dicer was found to impair the migration of endothelial cells.

Methods

siRNA transfection, cell migration assay, real-time RT–PCR, chromatin immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, ELISA, caspase-3 activity assay, and annexin-V–FITC assay were utilized.

Results

Knockdown of Dicer impairs the migratory capacity of HEK293T cells and induces fibronectin-1. The upregulation of fibronectin-1 is dependent on Egr1. Fibronectin-1/Dicer double-knockdown cells showed a marked increase in apoptosis compared with fibronectin-1 single knockdown cells.

Conclusions

Decreased Dicer expression induces fibronectin-1 expression via an Egr1-dependent manner.

General significance

Our data suggest that upregulation of fibronectin-1 protects Dicer knockdown HEK293T cells against apoptosis.     

Enhancement of transient gene expression by fed-batch culture of HEK 293 EBNA1 cells in suspension

Enhanced green fluorescence protein (GFP) and erythropoietin (EPO) were used as reporters to assess and improve transient gene expression in HEK 293 EBNA1 cells. The production of EPO only lasted 3 days and reached 18.1 mg/l in suspension cultures in 1 l batch bioreactors. However, GFP expression examined in well-plate experiments persisted for 12 days in transfected cells but decreased rapidly within the next 15 days. These results suggest that the retaining of a plasmid in cells may not be a limiting factor for protein expression in large-scale transient transfection. To improve cell maintenance and protein expression, a fed-batch culture was performed using an enriched medium, a mixture of equal volumes of 293 SFM II medium and a 5 × amino acid solution prepared based on DMEM/F12 medium formula. EPO reached 33.6 mg/l, representing 86% increase over that of the batch culture. Moreover, the total amount of EPO produced was increased by 165% in view of the volume increase in the fed-batch culture. The serum-free medium used in this work enables cells growing well and transfection without medium change. Thus, the process reported here is simple and easy to scale up.     

Transfection of partially purified plasmid DNA for high level transient protein expression in HEK293-EBNA cells

One of the major constraints to performing large-scale transfections of cultured mammalian cells for the transient expression of recombinant proteins is the production of large quantities of purified plasmid DNA. In this report partially purified plasmid DNA was prepared by a method that combines alkaline lysis of E. coli with standard precipitation techniques. The efficiency of calcium phosphate-DNA co-precipitate formation with crude DNA was similar to that observed for pure DNA, but precipitate formed with crude DNA also contained RNA. The transfection of adherent and suspension-adapted HEK293-EBNA cells with partially purified pEGFPN1 resulted in levels of transient GFP expression equivalent to those achieved with pure DNA. In addition, the co-transfection of 1-200 ml cultures of suspension-adapted HEK293-EBNA cells with two different plasmids encoding the heavy and light chain genes of anti-human RhD IgG1, respectively, yielded similar IgG titers with pure and partially purified plasmid DNA. Finally, it was observed that suspension-adapted cells were more tolerant to the presence of RNA in the plasmid preparations than were adherent cells. These findings are relevant to the field of DNA transfection, including applications ranging from high-throughput screening to large-scale transient protein expression.     

Transient transfection induces different intracellular calcium signaling in CHO K1 versus HEK 293 cells

For the controlled production of recombinant proteinsin mammalian cells by transient transfection, it maybe desirable not only to manipulate, but also todiagnose the expression success early. Here, weapplied laser scanning confocal microscopy to monitortransfection induced intracellular Ca²⁺responses. We compared Chinese hamster ovary (CHO K1)versus human embryo kidney (HEK) 293 cell lines, whichdiffer largely in their transfectability. An improvedcalcium phosphate transfection method was used for itssimplicity and its demonstrated upscale potential.Cytosolic Ca²⁺ signaling appeared to inverselyreflect the cellular transfection fate. Virtually allCHO cells exhibited asynchronous, cytosolicCa²⁺ oscillations, which peaked 4 h afteraddition of the transfecting solution. Yet, most ofthe HEK cells displayed a slow and continuousCa²⁺ increase over the time of transfection. CHOcells, when exposed to a transfection-enhancingglycerol shock, strongly downregulated their Ca²⁺response, including its oscillations. When treatedwith thapsigargin, a Ca²⁺ store depleting drug,the number of successfully transfected CHO cells was significantly reduced. Our result points tointracellular store release as a critical componentfor the transfection fate of CHO cells, and its early detection before product visualization.     

一次性生物反应器悬浮培养HEK293细胞生产Ad-IFNγ的工艺

腺病毒载体是极具发展前景的基因治疗载体之一,为获得一条新型腺病毒规模化生产工艺,研究采用5 L振荡激流式一次性生物反应器悬浮培养HEK293细胞来生产重组腺病毒载体。细胞经种子链逐步扩增后,接种至AP10生物反应器,采用CD293无血清培养基流加培养悬浮HEK293细胞,细胞密度达约2.0×106个/m L时,以30 MOI(Multiplicity of infection)感染重组Ad-IFNγ(Recombinant adenovirus-interferon gamma),48 h后收获细胞,3次冻融裂解离心收获上清病毒粗产品。采用壳蛋白免疫法快速测定粗产品滴度。结果表明,采用振荡激流式一次性生物反应器,流加HEK293细胞悬浮培养6 d,密度可达2.0×106个/m L,Ad-IFNγ粗产量达1.49×1013 IFU(Infectious unit),单细胞包装量达3 800 IFU/cell。采用阴离子交换层析法纯化重组腺病毒,回收率35.9%。建立了利用5 L激流式一次性生物反应器悬浮培养HEK293细胞生产重组腺病毒载体Ad-IFNγ的初步工艺。     

Optimizing the transient transfection process of HEK-293 suspension cells for protein production by nucleotide ratio monitoring

Large scale, transient gene expression (TGE) is highly dependent of the physiological status of a cell line. Therefore, intracellular nucleotide pools and ratios were used for identifying and monitoring the optimal status of a suspension cell line used for TGE. The transfection efficiency upon polyethyleneimine (PEI)-mediated transient gene delivery into HEK-293 cells cultured in suspension was investigated to understand the effect of different culture and transfection conditions as well as the significance of the culture age and the quality of the cell line used. Based on two different bicistronic model plasmids expressing the human erythropoietin gene (rHuEPO) in the first position and green fluorescent protein as reporter gene in the second position and vice versa, a completely serum-free transient transfection process was established. The process makes use of a 1:1 mixture of a special calcium-free DMEM and the FreeStyle™ 293 Expression Medium. Maximum transfectability was achieved by adjusting the ratio for complex formation to one mass part of DNA and three parts of PEI corresponding to an N/P (nitrogen residues/DNA phosphates) ratio of 23 representing a minimum amount of DNA for the polycation-mediated gene delivery. Applying this method, maximum transfectabilities between 70 and 96 % and a rHuEPO concentration of 1.6 μg mL⁻¹ 72 h post transfection were reached, when rHuEPO gene was expressed from the first position of the bicistronic mRNA. This corresponded to 10 % of the total protein concentration in the cell-free supernatant of the cultures in protein-free medium. Up to 30 % higher transfectabilities were found for cells of early passages compared to those from late passages under protein-free culture conditions. In contrast, when the same cells were propagated in serum-containing medium, higher transfectabilities were found for late-passage cells, while up to 40 % lower transfectabilities were observed for early-passage cells. Nucleotide pools were measured during all cell cultivations and the nucleoside triphosphate/uridine ratios were calculated. These ‘nucleotide ratios’ changed in an age-dependent manner and could be used to distinguish early- from late-passage cells. The observed effects were also dependent on the presence of serum in the culture. Nucleotide ratios were shown being applied to investigate the optimal passage number of cultured cell lines for achieving a maximum productivity in cultures used for transient gene expression. Furthermore, these nucleotide ratios proved to be different for transfected and untransfected cells, providing a high potential tool to monitor the status of transfection under various culture conditions.     

Large-scale transient transfection of serum-free suspension-growing HEK293 EBNA1 cells: peptone additives improve cell growth and transfection efficiency

Large-scale transient transfection of mammalian cells is a recent and powerful technology for the fast production of milligram amounts of recombinant proteins (r-proteins). As many r-proteins used for therapeutic and structural studies are naturally secreted or engineered to be secreted, a cost-effective serum-free culture medium that allows their efficient expression and purification is required. In an attempt to design such a serum-free medium, the effect of nine protein hydrolysates on cell proliferation, transfection efficiency, and volumetric productivity was evaluated using green fluorescent protein (GFP) and human placental secreted alkaline phosphate (SEAP) as reporter genes. The suspension growing, serum-free adapted HEK293SF-3F6 cell line was stably transfected with an EBNA1-expression vector to increase protein expression when using EBV oriP bearing plasmids. Compared to our standard serum-free medium, concomitant addition of the gelatin peptone N3 and removal of BSA slightly enhanced transfection efficiency and significantly increased volumetric productivity fourfold. Using the optimized medium formulation, transfection efficiencies between 40-60% were routinely obtained and SEAP production reached 18 mg/L(-1). To date, we have successfully produced and purified over fifteen r-proteins from 1-14-L bioreactors using this serum-free system. As examples, we describe the scale-up of two secreted his-tagged r-proteins Tie-2 and Neuropilin-1 extracellular domains (ED) in bioreactors. Each protein was successfully purified to >95% purity following a single immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) step. In contrast, purification of Tie-2 and Neuropilin-1 produced in serum-containing medium was much less efficient. Thus, the use of our new serum-free EBNA1 cell line with peptone-enriched serum-free medium significantly improves protein expression compared to peptone-less medium, and significantly increases their purification efficiency compared to serum-containing medium. This eliminates labor-intensive and expensive chromatographic steps, and allows for the simple, reliable, and extremely fast production of milligram amounts of r-proteins within 5 days posttransfection.     

Stable high volumetric production of glycosylated human recombinant IFNalpha2b in HEK293 cells

Background

Mammalian cells are becoming the prevailing expression system for the production of recombinant proteins because of their capacity for proper protein folding, assembly, and post-translational modifications. These systems currently allow high volumetric production of monoclonal recombinant antibodies in the range of grams per litre. However their use for large-scale expression of cytokines typically results in much lower volumetric productivity.

Results

We have engineered a HEK293 cell clone for high level production of human recombinant glycosylated IFNα2b and developed a rapid and efficient method for its purification. This clone steadily produces more than 200 mg (up to 333 mg) of human recombinant IFNα2b per liter of serum-free culture, which can be purified by a single-step cation-exchange chromatography following media acidification and clarification. This rapid procedure yields 98% pure IFNα2b with a recovery greater than 70%. Purified IFNα2b migrates on SDS-PAGE as two species, a major 21 kDa band and a minor 19 kDa band. N-terminal sequences of both forms are identical and correspond to the expected mature protein. Purified IFNα2b elutes at neutral pH as a single peak with an apparent molecular weight of 44,000 Da as determined by size-exclusion chromatography. The presence of intramolecular and absence of intermolecular disulfide bridges is evidenced by the fact that non-reduced IFNα2b has a greater electrophoretic mobility than the reduced form. Treatment of purified IFNα2b with neuraminidase followed by O-glycosidase both increases electrophoretic mobility, indicating the presence of sialylated O-linked glycan. A detailed analysis of glycosylation by mass spectroscopy identifies disialylated and monosialylated forms as the major constituents of purified IFNα2b. Electron transfer dissociation (ETD) shows that the glycans are linked to the expected threonine at position 106. Other minor glycosylated forms and non-sialylated species are also detected, similar to IFNα2b produced naturally by lymphocytes. Further, the HEK293-produced IFNα2b is biologically active as shown with reporter gene and antiviral assays.

Conclusion

These results show that the HEK293 cell line is an efficient and valuable host for the production of biologically active and glycosylated human IFNα2b.     

Co-transfection and tandem transfection of HEK293A cells for overexpression and RNAi experiments

pIRES2-EGFP was employed and a non-target shRNA expressing plasmid was constructed to simulate overexpression and RNAi (RNA interference) experiments. Transfection of pIRES2-EGFP into HEK293A cells by cationic lipids VigoFect demonstrated that transfection efficiency increased in a dose-dependent manner with amount of DNA plasmid used, and optimal transfection time and cell density should be identified to reach a compromise of higher transfection efficiency and lower toxicity. Co-transfection experiments indicated that the two co-transfected plasmids were equivalently delivered into the same cells, and the co-transfection efficiency was rarely affected by cell density and proportion of the two plasmids. However, plasmid-receipted cells seemed indisposed to accept plasmid again during the second transfection, and very low co-transfection efficiency was observed in tandem transfection.     

Subcellular localization of human neutral ceramidase expressed in HEK293 cells

We previously reported that rat and mouse neutral ceramidases were mainly localized to plasma membranes as a type II integral membrane protein and partly detached from the cells via processing of the N-terminal/anchor sequence when expressed in HEK293 cells [M. Tani, H. Iida, M. Ito, O-glycosylation of mucin-like domain retains the neutral ceramidase on the plasma membranes as a type II integral membrane protein, J. Biol. Chem. 278 (2003) 10523-10530]. In contrast, the human homologue was exclusively detected in mitochondria when expressed in HEK293 and MCF7 cells as a fusion protein with green fluorescent protein at the N-terminal of the enzyme [S.E. Bawab, P. Roddy, T. Quian, A. Bielawska, J.J. Lemasters, Y.A. Hannun, Molecular cloning and characterization of a human mitochondrial ceramidase, J. Biol. Chem. 275 (2000) 21508-21513]. Given this discrepancy, we decided to clone the neutral ceramidase from human kidney cDNA and re-examine the intracellular localization of the enzyme when expressed in HEK293 cells. The putative amino acid sequence of the newly cloned enzyme was identical to that reported for human neutral ceramidase except at the N-terminal; the new protein was 19 amino acids longer at the N-terminal. We found that the putative full-length human neutral ceramidase was transported to plasma membranes, but not to mitochondria, possibly via a classical ER/Golgi pathway and localized mainly in plasma membranes when expressed in HEK293 cells. The N-terminal-truncated mutant, previously reported as a human mitochondrial ceramidase, was also weakly expressed in HEK293 cells but mainly released into the medium possibly due to the insufficient signal/anchor sequence.