RESUMO
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells producing the recombinant glycoprotein human antithrombin III (rhAT III) were batch cultivated in a 20-L bioreactor for 13 days. Neuraminidase activity in cell-free supernatant was monitored during cultivation and free sialic acid was determined by HPLC. Neu5Acalpha(2-->3)Gal-specific Maackia amurensis and Galbeta(1-->4)GlcNAc-specific Datura stramonium agglutinin were used for determination of sialylated and desialylated rhAT III, respectively. A commercial test kit was used for evaluation of functional rhAT III activity. Supernatant neuraminidase as well as lactate dehydrogenase activity increased significantly during batch growth. The enhanced number of dead cells correlated with increased neuraminidase activity, which seemed to be principally due to cell lysis, resulting in release of cytosolic neuraminidase. Loss of terminally alpha(2-->3) linked sialic acids of the oligosaccharide portions of rhAT III, analyzed in lectin-based Western blot and lectin-adsorbent assays, correlated with a decrease of activity of rhAT III produced throughout long-term batch cultivation. Thus, structural oligosaccharide integrity as well as the functional activity of recombinant glycoprotein depend on the viability and mortality of the bioreactor culture, and batches with a high number of viable cells are required to guarantee production of glycoproteins with maximum biological activity. (c) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 56: 441-448, 1997.
RESUMO
Sialidase activity in cell-free supernatant of batch-cultivated Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells producing human recombinant antithrombin III (rhAT III) was monitored during cultivation using 4-methylumbelliferyl substrate and HPLC for free sialic acid determination. Supernatant sialidase as well as lactate dehydrogenase activity increased significantly during batch growth. The enhanced number of dead cells correlated with increasing sialidase activity which seemed to be principally due to cell lysis, resulting in release of cytosolic sialidase. Loss of terminally alpha (2-->3) bound sialic acids of the oligosaccharides of rhAT III was analyzed in lectin-based Western blot and enzyme-linked lectin assays, using Maackia amurensis and Datura stramonium agglutinins for specific determination of Neu5Ac alpha (2-->3)Gal- and Gal beta (1-->4)-GlcNAc-terminated glycoproteins, respectively. Results show a remarkable loss of terminal sialic acids of rhAT III along with decrease in CHO cell viability and concomitant increase of dead cells throughout long-term batch cultivation. To avoid this degradation effect, process parameters forcing high viability are essential and harvesting of culture at an early time even at suboptimal recombinant protein concentration is highly recommended to avoid product desialylation.
