Exploring the linkage between cell culture process parameters and downstream processing utilizing a plackett‐burman design for a model monoclonal antibody

Linkage of upstream cell culture with downstream processing and purification is an aspect of Quality by Design crucial for efficient and consistent production of high quality biopharmaceutical proteins. In a previous Plackett‐Burman screening study of parallel bioreactor cultures we evaluated main effects of 11 process variables, such as agitation, sparge rate, feeding regimens, dissolved oxygen set point, inoculation density, supplement addition, temperature, and pH shifts. In this follow‐up study, we observed linkages between cell culture process parameters and downstream capture chromatography performance and subsequent antibody attributes. In depth analysis of the capture chromatography purification of harvested cell culture fluid yielded significant effects of upstream process parameters on host cell protein abundance and behavior. A variety of methods were used to characterize the antibody both after purification and buffer formulation. This analysis provided insight in to the significant impacts of upstream process parameters on aggregate formation, impurities, and protein structure. This report highlights the utility of linkage studies in identifying how changes in upstream parameters can impact downstream critical quality attributes. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:163–170, 2017     

Impact of cell culture on recombinant monoclonal antibody product heterogeneity

Recombinant monoclonal antibodies are commonly expressed in mammalian cell culture and purified by several steps of filtration and chromatography. The resulting high purity bulk drug substance still contains product variants differing in properties such as charge and size. Posttranslational modifications and degradations occurring during cell culture are the major sources of heterogeneity in bulk drug substance of recombinant monoclonal antibodies. The focus of the current review is the impact of cell culture conditions on the types and levels of various modifications and degradations of recombinant monoclonal antibodies. Understanding the relationship between cell culture and product variants can help to make consistently safe and efficacious products. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:1103–1112, 2016     

Fingerprint detection and process prediction by multivariate analysis of fed‐batch monoclonal antibody cell culture data

This work presents a sequential data analysis path, which was successfully applied to identify important patterns (fingerprints) in mammalian cell culture process data regarding process variables, time evolution and process response. The data set incorporates 116 fed‐batch cultivation experiments for the production of a Fc‐Fusion protein. Having precharacterized the evolutions of the investigated variables and manipulated parameters with univariate analysis, principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) are used for further investigation. The first major objective is to capture and understand the interaction structure and dynamic behavior of the process variables and the titer (process response) using different models. The second major objective is to evaluate those models regarding their capability to characterize and predict the titer production. Moreover, the effects of data unfolding, imputation of missing data, phase separation, and variable transformation on the performance of the models are evaluated. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:1633–1644, 2015     

Defining process design space for a hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) purification step: Application of quality by design (QbD) principles

The concept of design space has been taking root under the quality by design paradigm as a foundation of in‐process control strategies for biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes. This paper outlines the development of a design space for a hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) process step. The design space included the impact of raw material lot‐to‐lot variability and variations in the feed stream from cell culture. A failure modes and effects analysis was employed as the basis for the process characterization exercise. During mapping of the process design space, the multi‐dimensional combination of operational variables were studied to quantify the impact on process performance in terms of yield and product quality. Variability in resin hydrophobicity was found to have a significant influence on step yield and high‐molecular weight aggregate clearance through the HIC step. A robust operating window was identified for this process step that enabled a higher step yield while ensuring acceptable product quality. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010;107: 985–997. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Role of iron and sodium citrate in animal protein-free CHO cell culture medium on cell growth and monoclonal antibody production

Chemically defined iron compounds were investigated for the development of animal protein-free cell culture media to support growth of CHO cells and production of monoclonal antibodies (mAb). Using a multivessel approach of 96-well plates, shake flasks, and bioreactors, we identified iron and its chemical partner citrate as critical components for maintenance of continuous cell growth and mAb production. The optimized iron concentration range was determined to be 0.1-0.5 mM and that for citrate 0.125-1 mM. This complete formulation is able to maintain cell growth to similar levels as those supplemented with iron compounds alone; however, mAb productivity was enhanced by 30-40% when citrate was present. The addition of sodium citrate (SC) did not affect product quality as determined by size exclusion chromatography, ion exchange chromatography, reversed phase and normal phase-HPLC. No significant changes in glucose and lactate profiles, amino acid utilization, or mAb heavy and light chain expression ratios were observed. Cellular ATP level was ～30% higher when SC was included suggesting that SC may have a role in enhancing cellular energy content. When cell lysates were analyzed by LC-MS to assess the overall cellular protein profile, we identified that in the SC-containing sample, proteins involved in ribosome formation and protein folding were upregulated, and those functions in protein degradation were downregulated. Taken together, this data demonstrated that iron and citrate combination significantly enhanced mAb production without altering product quality and suggested these compounds had a role in upregulating the protein synthetic machinery to promote protein production.     

Fermentanomics: Relating quality attributes of a monoclonal antibody to cell culture process variables and raw materials using multivariate data analysis

Fermentanomics is an emerging field of research and involves understanding the underlying controlled process variables and their effect on process yield and product quality. Although major advancements have occurred in process analytics over the past two decades, accurate real‐time measurement of significant quality attributes for a biotech product during production culture is still not feasible. Researchers have used an amalgam of process models and analytical measurements for monitoring and process control during production. This article focuses on using multivariate data analysis as a tool for monitoring the internal bioreactor dynamics, the metabolic state of the cell, and interactions among them during culture. Quality attributes of the monoclonal antibody product that were monitored include glycosylation profile of the final product along with process attributes, such as viable cell density and level of antibody expression. These were related to process variables, raw materials components of the chemically defined hybridoma media, concentration of metabolites formed during the course of the culture, aeration‐related parameters, and supplemented raw materials such as glucose, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, and tyrosine. This article demonstrates the utility of multivariate data analysis for correlating the product quality attributes (especially glycosylation) to process variables and raw materials (especially amino acid supplements in cell culture media). The proposed approach can be applied for process optimization to increase product expression, improve consistency of product quality, and target the desired quality attribute profile. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:1586–1599, 2015     

Modulation of high mannose levels in N-linked glycosylation through cell culture process conditions to increase antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity activity for an antibody biosimilar

The regulatory approval of a biosimilar product is contingent on the favorable comparability of its safety and efficacy to that of the innovator product. As such, it is important to match the critical quality attributes of the biosimilar product to that of the innovator product. The N-glycosylation profile of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) can influence effector function activities such as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) and complement-dependent cytotoxicity. In this study, we describe efforts to modulate the high-mannose (HM) levels of a biosimilar mAb produced in a Chinese hamster ovary cell fed-batch process. Because the HM level of the mAb was observed to impact ADCC activity, it was desirable to match it to the innovator mAb's levels. Several cell culture process related factors known to modulate the HM content of N-glycosylation were investigated, including osmolality, ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl) addition, glutamine concentration, monensin addition, and the addition of alternate sugars and amino sugars to the feed medium. The process conditions evaluated varied in impact on HM levels, process performance and product quality. One condition, the addition of alternate sugars and amino sugars to feed medium, was identified as the preferred method for increasing HM levels with minimal disruptions to process performance or other product quality attributes. Interestingly, a secondary interaction between sugar and amino sugar supplemented feeds and osmolality was observed during process scale-up. These studies demonstrate sugar and amino sugar concentrations and osmolality are critical variables to evaluate to match HM content in biosimilar and their innovator mAbs.     

CHO细胞表达抗血管内皮生长因子单克隆抗体工艺优化

抗血管内皮生长因子单克隆抗体(VEGF-MA)能够抑制肿瘤生长,具有良好的市场前景。本研究利用一株重组中国仓鼠卵巢细胞(Chinese hamster ovary cell,CHO)细胞株表达VEGF-MA。首先对培养基种类进行优化,筛选最优的基础培养基、补料培养基和外源添加物。研究结果表明:最有利于重组CHO细胞株表达VEGF-MA的基础培养基、补料培养基和外源添加物分别为ActiCHO P Powder CD、CD Efficient Feed C AG和Sheff-CHO Plus PF ACF。利用这一培养基配比在摇瓶和3 L发酵罐中培养重组CHO细胞,VEGF-MA产量均可达到3.20 g/L。在3 L发酵罐中进一步优化培养条件,结果表明:最优的接种密度、pH、溶解氧浓度、前期培养温度和后期培养温度分别为1.0×10^6个/mL、7.10、40%、36.5℃和34℃,此时的VEGF-MA产量能够达到4.10 g/L。VEGF-MA质量指标均处于标准范围内:电荷异质性、糖基化水平和蛋白纯度分别为26.1%、59.1%和95.1%。     

Cell cycle kinetics and monoclonal antibody productivity of hybridoma cells during perfusion culture

The flow-cytometric (FCM) analysis of bivariate DNA/lgG distributions has been conducted to study the cell cycle kinetics and monoclonal antibody (MAb) production during perfusion culture of hybridoma cells. Three different perfusion rates were employed to demonstrate the dependency of MAb synthesis and secretion on cell cycle and growth rate. The results showed that, during the rapid growth period of perfusion culture, the level of intracellular igG contents of hybridoma cells changed significantly at each perfusion rate, while the DNA histograms showing cell cycle phases were almost constant. Meanwhile, during the reduced growth period of perfusion culture, the fraction of cells in the S phase decreased, and the fraction cells in the G1/G0 phase increased with decreasing growth rate. The fraction of cells in the G2/M phase was relatively constant during the whole period of perfusion culture. Positive correlation was found between mean intracellular IgG contents and the specific MAb production rate, suggesting that the deletion of intracellular IgG contents by a flow cytometer could be used as a good indicator for the prediction of changes in specific MAb productivity following manipulation of the culture condition. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

细胞培养工艺条件对抗体异质性影响的研究进展

抗体药物具有靶向明确、副作用小等优势,近年来受到国内外药企的广泛关注。然而,动物细胞大规模培养和抗体质量分析已然成为我国的抗体药物产业化的主要限制因素,尤其是细胞培养工艺条件对抗体异质性的影响非常显著,如何有效通过优化工艺条件来满足抗体药物开发要求成为迫在眉睫的问题。文中简要综述了近年来细胞培养工艺条件对抗体异质性影响的技术进展,并对未来国内抗体药物开发作了展望。     

Effects of peptone on hybridoma growth and monoclonal antibody formation

Hybridoma WuT3 secreting a monoclonal antibody against T lymphocytes was grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 1% human serum. The effect of the concentration of peptone, as an additive, was investigated on cell growth, monoclonal antibody formation, and cell metabolism over 0–10 g l^–1 range. It was found that 1–5 g l^–1 peptone can significantly promote the growth of cells and increase the formation of monoclonal antibody, especially at 3–5 g l^–1, when both the accumulating level and secretion rate of monoclonal antibody are higher than that at other peptone concentrations. Based on glucose, lactate and ammonia analysis data, the efficiency of glycolysis was assessed and the utilization of amino acids was more efficient at 3–5 g l^–1 peptone. The cell growth and monoclonal antibody formation were inhibited at higher peptone concentrations, e.g. 10 g l^–1.     

A serum-free medium for hybridoma cell culture

The effects of several different substances, including insulin, transferrin, ethanolamine, selenite and butyrate on the growth of murine hybridoma 2F7 cells, which secrete monoclonal antibody against small cell lung cancer, were investigated, and a serum-free medium SFMI was formulated. The effects of taurine, spermidine, progesterone and adenine on the cell growth were tested further on the basis of the medium SFMI, and a modified serum-free medium SFM II was established. On the basis of medium SFM II, the substitution tests of ferric citrate for transferrin were carried out, and it was found that transferrin could be replaced. The experiments suggested that the formulated serum-free medium was suitable for 2F7 cell growth and monoclonal antibody secretion, and thus facilitated subsequent purification of monoclonal antibody.Abbreviations BSA bovine serum albumin - CS calf serum - DMEM Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium - ELISA enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay - McAb monoclonal antibody - PEG polyethylene glycol - SFM serum-free medium     

单个B细胞抗体制备技术及应用

单克隆抗体是现代生命科学研究的重要工具,为许多领域的发展作出了不可估量的贡献。随着PCR技术和单克隆抗体技术的发展和成熟,单个B细胞抗体制备技术迅速兴起。该技术能够对单个的抗原特异性B细胞进行抗体基因的体外克隆和表达,保证了轻重链可变区的天然配对,相较于传统的抗体制备技术具有效率高、全人源、基因多样性更丰富等优势。单个B细胞抗体制备技术已成为制备全人抗体的热门方法,同时也促进了包括抗体发生成熟、疫苗保护机制、疫苗开发、肿瘤及自身免疫疾病等免疫学相关研究。文中就单个B细胞抗体制备技术的过程及应用作简要综述。     

High‐throughput miniaturized bioreactors for cell culture process development: Reproducibility,scalability, and control

Decreasing the timeframe for cell culture process development has been a key goal toward accelerating biopharmaceutical development. Advanced Microscale Bioreactors (ambr?) is an automated micro‐bioreactor system with miniature single‐use bioreactors with a 10–15 mL working volume controlled by an automated workstation. This system was compared to conventional bioreactor systems in terms of its performance for the production of a monoclonal antibody in a recombinant Chinese Hamster Ovary cell line. The miniaturized bioreactor system was found to produce cell culture profiles that matched across scales to 3 L, 15 L, and 200 L stirred tank bioreactors. The processes used in this article involve complex feed formulations, perturbations, and strict process control within the design space, which are in‐line with processes used for commercial scale manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. Changes to important process parameters in ambr? resulted in predictable cell growth, viability and titer changes, which were in good agreement to data from the conventional larger scale bioreactors. ambr? was found to successfully reproduce variations in temperature, dissolved oxygen (DO), and pH conditions similar to the larger bioreactor systems. Additionally, the miniature bioreactors were found to react well to perturbations in pH and DO through adjustments to the Proportional and Integral control loop. The data presented here demonstrates the utility of the ambr? system as a high throughput system for cell culture process development. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 30:718–727, 2014     

Rapamycin reduces hybridoma cell death and enhances monoclonal antibody production

Rapamycin was used as a medium additive to slow the progression of CRL 1606 hybridomas through the cell cycle, under the hypothesis that such a modulation might reduce cell death. Cell cycle distributions for CRL hybridomas in the G1 phase of the cell cycle ranged from 20% to 35% during batch, fed-batch, and continuous culture experiments, independent of culture time, dilution rate, growth rates, or death rates. Rapamycin, an mTOR signaling inhibitor, immunosuppressant, and G1-phase arresting agent, was identified and tested for efficacy in restraining cell cycle progression in CRL 1606 hybridoma cultures. However, in the presence of 100 nM rapamycin, the percentage of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle during fed-batch cultures was only increased from 28% to 31% in control cultures to 37% to 48% for those with rapamycin. Accordingly, rapamycin only slightly reduced culture growth rate. Instead, the use of rapamycin more notably kept viability higher than that of control cultures by delaying cell death for 48 h, thereby enabling viable proliferation to higher maximum viable cell densities. Furthermore, rapamycin enhanced specific monoclonal antibody production by up to 100% during high-viability growth. Thus, over the course of 6-day fed-batch cultivations, the beneficial effects of rapamycin on viable cell density and specific productivity resulted in an increase in final monoclonal antibody titer from 0.25 to 0.56 g/L (124%). As rapamycin is reported to influence a much broader range of cellular functions than cell cycle alone, these findings are more illustrative of the influence that signal transduction pathways related to mTOR can have on overall cell physiology and culture productivity.     

蛋白A亲和层析法纯化单克隆抗体工艺的优化

治疗性单克隆抗体药物已成为生物医药领域市场最主要的产品类别。蛋白A亲和层析作为第一步捕获抗体蛋白最为有效的手段仍然在现有单克隆抗体纯化平台中占据主导地位。在本研究中,首先开发了一种基于低p H处理抗体细胞回收液的新型细胞液回收技术,该技术能有效去除宿主相关污染物(非组蛋白宿主杂质蛋白、组蛋白、DNA、蛋白聚合物等),同时保证较高的抗体回收率。通过该技术有效预处理后,蛋白A纯化效率可提高10倍左右,并且有效避免了抗体洗脱液中和后浊度的上升,大大减轻了后续蛋白纯化的压力。同时我们也对酸性处理中各种宿主杂质去除机制进行了研究。然后,预处理的洗脱液再经一步Capto adhere色谱纯化,非组蛋白宿主杂质蛋白降低至5 ppm、DNA小于1 ppb、组蛋白降低至检测限以下、蛋白聚合物小于0.01%。总过程抗体蛋白收率87%。该两步法抗体纯化技术可有效集成至当前主流抗体纯化平台,具有良好的大规模应用价值。     

Interaction of cell culture process parameters for modulating mAb afucosylation

The extent of afucosylation, which refers to the absence of core fucose on Fc glycans, can correlate positively with the antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) activity of a monoclonal antibody (mAb). Therefore, it is important to maintain consistent afucosylation during cell culture process scale-up in bioreactors for a mAb with ADCC activity. However, there is currently a lack of understanding about the impact of partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂)—a parameter that can vary with bioreactor scale—on afucosylation. Using a small-scale (3 L) bioreactor model that can modulate pCO ₂ levels through modified configurations and gassing strategies, we identified three cell culture process parameters that influence afucosylation of a mAb produced by a recombinant Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell line: pCO ₂, media hold duration (at 37°C), and manganese. These three-independent parameters demonstrated a synergistic effect on mAb afucosylation; increase in pCO ₂, media hold duration, and manganese consistently increased afucosylation. Our investigations into the underlying mechanisms through proteomic analysis indicated that the synergistic interactions downregulated pathways related to guanosine diphosphate-fucose synthesis and fucosylation, and upregulated manganese transport into the CHO cells. These new findings highlight the importance of considering potential differences in culture environment and operations across bioreactor scales, and understanding the impact of their interactions on product quality.     

A novel method for monitoring monoclonal antibody production during cell culture

We describe a new format for surface-based fluoroimmunoassays that allows detection of biomolecule interactions without separation steps. The bioactive layer was immobilized on the surface of a glass substrate covered with silver islands that provide optical amplification of the distinctive fluorescence signal from bound probes when compared to unbound probes. The technique used was phase-modulation fluorometry that allows sensitive detection of bound probes with a very short lifetime in the presence of excess free probes in solution. The new method was applied to assay monoclonal antibody production during cell culture. Excellent agreement was found between the new method and ELISA analysis of hybridoma cell culture samples. It is predicted that the near real time monitoring of protein products during bioprocessing will be possible with the described technology.     

Evaluation of different vector design strategies for the expression of recombinant monoclonal antibody in CHO cells

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have emerged as the most promising category of recombinant proteins due to their high efficiency for the treatment of a wide range of human diseases. The complex nature of mAbs creates a great deal of challenges in both upstream and downstream manufacturing processes. Proportional expression and correct folding and assembly of the light chain and heavy chain are required for efficient production of the mAbs. In this regard, expression vector design has proven to have profound effects on the antibody expression level as well as its stability and quality. Here, we have explored the efficiency of different vector design strategies for the expression of a recombinant IgG1 antibody in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The antibody expression level was analyzed in transient expression and stable cell pools followed by expression analysis on single-cell clones. While detectable amounts of antibody were observed in all three systems, dual-promoter single-vector system showed the highest expression level in transient and stable expression as well as the highest productivity among clonal cells. Our results here show the importance of vector design for successful production of whole mAbs in CHO cells.     

High-performance countercurrent membrane purification for host cell protein removal from monoclonal antibody products

The transition to continuous biomanufacturing has led to renewed interest in alternative approaches for downstream processing of monoclonal antibody (mAb) products. In this study, we examined the potential of using high-performance countercurrent membrane purification (HPCMP) for the removal of host cell proteins (HCPs) derived from Chinese Hamster Ovary cells in the purification of a mAb. Initial studies used several model proteins to identify appropriate operating conditions for the hollow fiber membrane modules. HPCMP was then used for mAb purification, with mAb yield >95% and more than 100-fold reduction in HCP. Stable operation was maintained for 48 h for feeds that were first prefiltered through the 3M^TM Harvest RC chromatographic clarifier to remove DNA and other foulants. In addition, the Process Mass Intensity for HPCMP can be much less than that for alternative HCP separation processes. These results highlight the potential of using HPCMP as part of a fully continuous mAb production process.