Pyruvate Kinase Muscle-1 Expression Appears to Drive Lactogenic Behavior in CHO Cell Lines, Triggering Lower Viability and Productivity: A Case Study.

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines are used to express a variety of therapeutic proteins. However, lactogenic behavior displayed by some CHO cell lines during manufacturing processes may result in a decline in viability, productivity, and possible alterations in product quality. In cultured cells, lactate is produced during glycolysis through irreversible conversion of phosphoenolpyruvate to pyruvate and then lactate via sequential function of pyruvate kinase and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes. In the process of cell line development (CLD), two lactogenic cell lines expressing different antibody molecules are identified. The lactogenic behaviors of these cell lines can be differentially mitigated through optimization of either nutrient feeds or culture pH, depending on the cell line. Analysis of various proteins involved in the glycolysis pathway reveal a direct correlation between the pyruvate kinase muscle-1 (PKM-1) isoform levels and lactogenic behavior. CRISPR mediated knockout of the PKM-1 isoform abolishes lactate accumulation even under lactogenic conditions. Furthermore, a cell line lacking expression of both PKM-1 and PKM-2 enzymes capable of maintaining productivity, viability, and growth without displaying lactogenic behavior is identified. Targeted deletion of PKM in CHO cells may be tolerated due to expression of PKL (liver) and PKR (red blood cell) isoforms of pyruvate kinase. All together, these findings suggest that PKM-1 up-regulation during antibody production could trigger lactogenic behavior and that this enzyme is dispensable for CHO cell survival.

Probing the importance of clonality: Single cell subcloning of clonally derived CHO cell lines yields widely diverse clones differing in growth, productivity, and product quality.

In the past few decades, a large variety of therapeutic antibodies and proteins have been expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. This mammalian expression system is robust, scalable, relatively inexpensive, and importantly allows for post-translational modifications that are important for some therapeutic proteins. Historically, CHO cell lines were derived from colonies of cells grown in semi-solid or liquid plates using either serum-containing or serum-free media. Current advancements in cell sorting and imaging technologies have allowed for isolating and imaging single cell progenitors at the seeding step, significantly increasing the probability of isolating clonally derived cell lines. However, it is debatable how much population heterogeneity can be eliminated when clonally derived cell lines, originated from a single cell progenitor, are scaled up. To further investigate this phenomenon, we subcloned two different clonally derived (day 0 imaged and visually inspected) cell lines expressing antibody-X. The results showed that when six randomly chosen subclones of each line were evaluated in a production assay, these subclones displayed a range of variation in titer, specific productivity, growth, and product quality attributes. Some subclones displayed variations in transgene copy numbers. Additionally, clonal derivation did not assure stability of the derived cell lines. Our findings show that cell heterogeneity exists in a population even when derived from a single cell progenitor. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 34:624-634, 2018.

Risk Mitigation in Preventing Adventitious Agent Contamination of Mammalian Cell Cultures.

Industrial-scale mammalian cell culture processes have been contaminated by viruses during the culturing phase. Although the historical frequency of such events has been quite low, the impact of contamination can be significant for the manufacturing company and for the supply of the product to patients. This chapter discusses sources of adventitious agent contamination risk in a cell culture process, provides a semiquantitative assessment of such risks, and describes potential process barriers that can be used to reduce contamination risk. High-temperature, short-time (HTST) heat treatment is recommended as the process barrier of choice, when compatible with the process. A case study assessing the compatibility of HTST heat treatment with a cell culture medium is presented, and lessons learned are shared from our experiences over many years of developing and implementing virus barriers in mammalian cell culture processes. Graphical Abstract.

Implementing high-temperature short-time media treatment in commercial-scale cell culture manufacturing processes.

The production of therapeutic proteins by mammalian cell culture is complex and sets high requirements for process, facility, and equipment design, as well as rigorous regulatory and quality standards. One particular point of concern and significant risk to supply chain is the susceptibility to contamination such as bacteria, fungi, mycoplasma, and viruses. Several technologies have been developed to create barriers for these agents to enter the process, e.g. filtration, UV inactivation, and temperature inactivation. However, if not implemented during development of the manufacturing process, these types of process changes can have significant impact on process performance if not managed appropriately. This article describes the implementation of the high-temperature short-time (HTST) treatment of cell culture media as an additional safety barrier against adventitious agents during the transfer of a large-scale commercial cell culture manufacturing process. The necessary steps and experiments, as well as subsequent results during qualification runs and routine manufacturing, are shown.

Strategy for selecting disposable bags for cell culture media applications based on a root-cause investigation.

The use of disposable bags for cell culture media storage has grown significantly in the past decade. Some of the key advantages of using disposable bags relative to non-disposable containers include increased product throughput, decreased cleaning validation costs, reduced risk of cross contamination and lower facility costs. As the scope of use of disposable bags for cell culture applications increases, problematic bags and scenarios should be identified and addressed to continue improving disposables technologies and meet the biotech industry's needs. In this article, we examine a cell culture application wherein media stored in disposable bags is warmed at 37°C before use for cell culture operations. A problematic bag film was identified through a prospective and retrospective cell culture investigation. The investigation provided information on the scope and variation of the issue with respect to different Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines, cell culture media, and application-specific parameters. It also led to the development of application-specific test methods and enabled a strategy for disposable bag film testing. The strategy was implemented for qualifying an alternative bag film for use in our processes. In this test strategy, multiple lots of 13 bag film types, encompassing eight vendors were evaluated using a three round, cell culture-based test strategy. The test strategy resulted in the determination of four viable bag film options based on the technical data. The results of this evaluation were used to conclude that a volatile or air-quenched compound, likely generated by gamma irradiation of the problematic bag film, negatively impacted cell culture performance.