RESUMO
The degree of sialylation of therapeutic glycoproteins affects its circulatory half-life and efficacy because incompletely sialylated glycoproteins are cleared from circulation by asialoglycoprotein receptors present in the liver cells. Mammalian expression systems, often employed in the production of these glycoprotein drugs, produce heterogeneously sialylated products. Here, we describe how to produce highly sialylated glycoproteins using a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell glycosylation mutant called CHO-gmt4 with human erythropoietin (EPO) as a model glycoprotein. The protocol describes how to isolate and characterize the CHO glycosylation mutants and how to assess the sialylation of the recombinant protein using isoelectric focusing (IEF). It further describes how to inactivate the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene in these cells using zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology to enable gene amplification and the generation of stable cell lines producing highly sialylated EPO.
Assuntos
Glicoproteínas/genética , Mutação/genética , Lectinas de Plantas/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Animais , Células CHO , Linhagem Celular , Cricetulus , Eritropoetina/genética , Amplificação de Genes/genética , Glicosilação , Humanos , Tetra-Hidrofolato Desidrogenase/genéticaRESUMO
Recombinant glycoprotein drugs require proper glycosylation for optimal therapeutic efficacy. Glycoprotein therapeutics are rapidly removed from circulation and have reduced efficacy if they are poorly sialylated. Ricinus communis agglutinin-I (RCA-I) was found highly toxic to wild-type CHO-K1 cells and all the mutants that survived RCA-I treatment contained a dysfunctional N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (GnT I) gene. These mutants are named CHO-gmt4 cells. Interestingly, upon restoration of GnT I, the sialylation of a model glycoprotein, erythropoietin, produced in CHO-gmt4 cells was shown to be superior to that produced in wild-type CHO-K1 cells. This addendum summarizes the applicability of this cell line, from transient to stable expression of the recombinant protein, and from a lab scale to an industrial scale perfusion bioreactor. In addition, CHO-gmt4 cells can be used to produce glycoproteins with mannose-terminated N-glycans. Recombinant glucocerebrosidase produced by CHO-gmt4 cells will not require glycan remodeling and may be directly used to treat patients with Gaucher disease. CHO-gmt4 cells can also be used to produce other glycoprotein therapeutics which target cells expressing mannose receptors.
Assuntos
Engenharia Celular , Eritropoetina/genética , Eritropoetina/metabolismo , N-Acetilglucosaminiltransferases/metabolismo , Ácido N-Acetilneuramínico/metabolismo , Tetra-Hidrofolato Desidrogenase/genética , Animais , HumanosRESUMO
Therapeutic glycoprotein drugs require a high degree of sialylation of their N-glycans for a better circulatory half-life that results in greater efficacy. It has been demonstrated that Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) glycosylation mutants lacking N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (GnT I), when restored by introduction of a functional GnT I, produced highly sialylated erythropoietin (EPO). We have now further engineered one of such mutants, JW152, by inactivating the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) gene to allow for the amplification of the EPO gene with methotrexate (MTX). Several MTX-amplified clones maintained the ability to produce highly sialylated EPO and one was selected for culture in a perfusion bioreactor that is used in an existing industrial EPO-production bioprocess. Extensive characterization of the EPO produced was performed using total sialic quantification, HPAEC-PAD and MALDI-TOF MS analyses. Our results demonstrated that the EPO produced by the mutant line exhibits superior sialylation compared to the commercially used EPO-producing CHO clone cultured under the same conditions. Therefore, this mutant has the industrial potential for producing highly sialylated recombinant EPO and potentially other recombinant glycoprotein therapeutics.
Assuntos
Engenharia Celular , Eritropoetina/genética , Eritropoetina/metabolismo , N-Acetilglucosaminiltransferases/metabolismo , Ácido N-Acetilneuramínico/metabolismo , Tetra-Hidrofolato Desidrogenase/genética , Animais , Reatores Biológicos , Células CHO , Cricetinae , Cricetulus , Eritropoetina/química , Amplificação de Genes/efeitos dos fármacos , Glicosilação , Meia-Vida , Humanos , Metotrexato/farmacologia , Mutação , Proteínas Recombinantes/química , Proteínas Recombinantes/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes/metabolismo , Tetra-Hidrofolato Desidrogenase/metabolismoRESUMO
A large number of CHO glycosylation mutants were isolated by Ricinus communis agglutinin-I (RCA-I). Complementation tests revealed that all these mutant lines possessed a dysfunctional N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase I (GnT I) gene. Sequencing analyses on the GnT I cDNAs isolated from 16 mutant lines led to the identification of nine different single base pair mutations. Some mutations result in a premature stop codon whereas others cause a single amino acid substitution in the GnT I protein. Interestingly, expression of the normal GnT I cDNA in mutant cells resulted in enhanced sialylation of N-glycans. The sialylation of recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) produced in mutant cells that were co-transfected with GnT I was enhanced compared to that of EPO produced in wild type CHO cells. The enhanced sialylation of EPO produced by JW152 cells in the presence of GnT I over CHO-K1 cells is a result of increased sialylated glycan structures with higher antennary branching. These findings represent a new strategy that may be utilized by the biotechnology industry to produce highly sialylated therapeutic glycoproteins.