Mammalian Systems Biotechnology Reveals Global Cellular Adaptations in a Recombinant CHO Cell Line.

Effective development of host cells for therapeutic protein production is hampered by the poor characterization of cellular transfection. Here, we employed a multi-omics-based systems biotechnology approach to elucidate the genotypic and phenotypic differences between a wild-type and recombinant antibody-producing Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. At the genomic level, we observed extensive rearrangements in specific targeted loci linked to transgene integration sites. Transcriptional re-wiring of DNA damage repair and cellular metabolism in the antibody producer, via changes in gene copy numbers, was also detected. Subsequent integration of transcriptomic data with a genome-scale metabolic model showed a substantial increase in energy metabolism in the antibody producer. Metabolomics, lipidomics, and glycomics analyses revealed an elevation in long-chain lipid species, potentially associated with protein transport and secretion requirements, and a surprising stability of N-glycosylation profiles between both cell lines. Overall, the proposed knowledge-based systems biotechnology framework can further accelerate mammalian cell-line engineering in a targeted manner.

Characterization of a Polyethylene Glycol-Amphotericin B Conjugate Loaded with Free AMB for Improved Antifungal Efficacy.

Amphotericin B (AMB) is a highly hydrophobic antifungal, whose use is limited by its toxicity and poor solubility. To improve its solubility, AMB was reacted with a functionalized polyethylene glycol (PEG), yielding soluble complex AmB-PEG formulations that theoretically comprise of chemically conjugated AMB-PEG and free AMB that is physically associated with the conjugate. Reverse-phase chromatography and size exclusion chromatography methods using HPLC were developed to separate conjugated AMB-PEG and free AmB, enabling the further characterization of these formulations. Using HPLC and dynamic light scattering analyses, it was observed that the AMB-PEG 2 formulation, having a higher molar ratio of 2 AMB: 1 PEG, possesses more free AMB and has relatively larger particle diameters compared to the AMB-PEG 1 formulation, that consists of 1 AMB: 1 PEG. The identity of the conjugate was also verified using mass spectrometry. AMB-PEG 2 demonstrates improved antifungal efficacy relative to AMB-PEG 1, without a concurrent increase in in vitro toxicity to mammalian cells, implying that the additional loading of free AMB in the AMB-PEG formulation can potentially increase its therapeutic index. Compared to unconjugated AMB, AMB-PEG formulations are less toxic to mammalian cells in vitro, even though their MIC50 values are comparatively higher in a variety of fungal strains tested. Our in vitro results suggest that AMB-PEG 2 formulations are two times less toxic than unconjugated AMB with antifungal efficacy on Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans.

Production of functional soluble Dectin-1 glycoprotein using an IRES-linked destabilized-dihydrofolate reductase expression vector.

Dectin-1 (CLEC7A) is a C-type lectin receptor that binds to ß-glucans found in fungal cell walls to act as a major pattern recognition receptor (PRR). Since ß-glucans epitope is not present in human cells, we are of the opinion that Dectin-1 can have therapeutic functions against fungal infections. We thus set out to produce a soluble extracellular domain of murine Dectin-1 (called sDectin-1) in sufficient titers to facilitate such studies in mouse models. Since sDectin-1 has previously been shown to be glycosylated, we chose to produce this protein using Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, a mammalian host cell line suitable for the high-titer production of recombinant glycoproteins. To ensure a high titer production of sDectin-1 and minimize the effects of gene fragmentation, we constructed a mammalian expression vector with a PEST-destabilized dhfr amplifiable marker downstream of an attenuated IRES element, which was in turn downstream of the sDectin-1 gene and a CMV IE promoter. Stably transfected and MTX-amplified cell pools were generated using this vector, and maximum sDectin-1 titers of 246 mg/l and 598 mg/l were obtained in shake flask batch culture and bioreactor fed-batch culture respectively. The purified recombinant sDectin-1 was shown to be glycosylated. Protein functionality was also demonstrated by its ability to bind to zymosan particles and to the cell wall of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We describe for the first time the use of an attenuated IRES-linked PEST-destabilized dhfr amplifiable marker for the production of recombinant proteins with stably amplified cell pools. With our process, we reached the highest reported titer for producing recombinant proteins smaller than 50 kDa in cell pools. sDectin-1 protein produced is glycosylated and functional. This vector design can thus be used efficiently for the high-titer production of functional recombinant proteins.