Air sparging for prevention of antibody disulfide bond reduction in harvested CHO cell culture fluid.

During the scale-up of several Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell monoclonal antibody production processes, significant reduction of the antibody interchain disulfide bonds was observed. The reduction was correlated with excessive mechanical cell shear during the harvest operations. These antibody reduction events resulted in failed product specifications and the subsequent loss of the drug substance batches. Several methods were recently developed to prevent antibody reduction, including modifying the cell culture media, using pre- and post-harvest chemical additions to the cell culture fluid (CCF), lowering the pH, and air sparging of the harvested CCF (HCCF). The work described in this paper further explores the option of HCCF air sparging for preventing antibody reduction. Here, a small-scale model was developed using a 3-L bioreactor to mimic the conditions of a manufacturing-scale harvest vessel and was subsequently employed to evaluate several air sparging strategies. In addition, these studies enabled further understanding of the relationships between cell lysis levels, oxygen consumption, and antibody reduction. Finally, the effectiveness of air sparging for several CHO cell lines and the potential impact on product quality were assessed to demonstrate that air sparging is an effective method in preventing antibody reduction.

High-yield expression of human vascular endothelial growth factor VEGF(165) in Escherichia coli and purification for therapeutic applications.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF(165)) is a potent mitogen that induces angiogenesis and vascular permeability in vivo and has demonstrated potential in therapeutic applications for accelerating wound healing. An industrial production method that provides high yield as well as high purity, quality, and potency is needed. The process described in this report involves a bacterial expression system capable of producing approximately 9g of rhVEGF per liter of broth and a downstream purification process consisting of protein refolding and three chromatography steps prior to formulation of the drug substance. A high cell density (HCD) fed-batch fermentation process was used to produce rhVEGF in periplasmic inclusion bodies. The inclusion bodies are harvested from the cell lysate and subjected to a single-step protein solubilization and refolding operation to extract the rhVEGF for purification. Overall recovery yields observed during development, including refolding and chromatography, were 30+/-6%. Host cell impurities are consistently cleared below target levels at both laboratory and large-scale demonstrating process robustness. The structure of the refolded and purified rhVEGF was confirmed by mass spectrometry, N-terminal sequencing, and tryptic peptide mapping while product variants were analyzed by multiple HPLC assays. Biological activity was verified by the proliferation of human umbilical vein derived endothelial cells.

Identification and prevention of antibody disulfide bond reduction during cell culture manufacturing.

In the biopharmaceutical industry, therapeutic monoclonal antibodies are primarily produced in mammalian cell culture systems. During the scale-up of a monoclonal antibody production process, we observed excessive mechanical cell shear as well as significant reduction of the antibody's interchain disulfide bonds during harvest operations. This antibody reduction event was catastrophic as the product failed to meet the drug substance specifications and the bulk product was lost. Subsequent laboratory studies have demonstrated that cells subjected to mechanical shear release cellular enzymes that contribute to this antibody reduction phenomenon (manuscript submitted; Kao et al., 2009). Several methods to prevent this antibody reduction event were developed using a lab-scale model to reproduce the lysis and reduction events. These methods included modifications to the cell culture media with chemicals (e.g., cupric sulfate (CuSO(4))), pre- and post-harvest chemical additions to the cell culture fluid (CCF) (e.g., CuSO(4), EDTA, L-cystine), as well as lowering the pH and air sparging of the harvested CCF (HCCF). These methods were evaluated for their effectiveness in preventing disulfide bond reduction and their impact to product quality. Effective prevention methods, which yielded acceptable product quality were evaluated for their potential to be implemented at manufacturing-scale. The work described here identifies numerous effective reduction prevention measures from lab-scale studies; several of these methods were then successfully translated into manufacturing processes.