Changes in antibody binding and functionality after humanizing a murine scFv anti-IFN-α2: From in silico studies to experimental analysis.

The structural and dynamic changes introduced during antibody humanization continue to be a topic open to new contributions. For this reason, the study of structural and functional changes of a murine scFv (mu.scFv) anti-rhIFN-α2b after humanization was carried out. As it was shown by long molecular dynamics simulations and circular dichroism analysis, changes in primary sequence affected the tertiary structure of the humanized scFv (hz.scFv): the position of the variable domain of light chain (VL) respective to the variable domain of heavy chain (VH) in each scFv molecule was different. This change mainly impacted on conformation and dynamics of the complementarity-determining region 3 of VH (CDR-H3) which led to changes in the specificity and affinity of humanized scFv (hz.scFv). These observations agree with experimental results that showed a decrease in the antigen-binding strength of hz.scFv, and different capacities of these molecules to neutralize the in vitro rhIFN-α2b biological activity. Besides, experimental studies to characterize antigen-antibody binding showed that mu.scFv and hz.scFv bind to the same antigen area and recognize a conformational epitope, which is evidence of docking results. Finally, the differences between these molecules to neutralize the in vitro rhIFN-α2b biological activity were described as a consequence of the blockade of certain functionally relevant amino acids of the cytokine, after scFv binding. All these observations confirmed that humanization affected the affinity and specificity of hz.scFv and pointed out that two specific changes in the frameworks would be responsible.

Large Area Microfluidic Bioreactor for Production of Recombinant Protein.

To produce innovative biopharmaceuticals, highly flexible, adaptable, robust, and affordable bioprocess platforms for bioreactors are essential. In this article, we describe the development of a large-area microfluidic bioreactor (LM bioreactor) for mammalian cell culture that works at laminar flow and perfusion conditions. The 184 cm2 32 cisterns LM bioreactor is the largest polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device fabricated by photopolymer flexographic master mold methodology, reaching a final volume of 2.8 mL. The LM bioreactor was connected to a syringe pump system for culture media perfusion, and the cells' culture was monitored by photomicrograph imaging. CHO-ahIFN-α2b adherent cell line expressing the anti-hIFN-a2b recombinant scFv-Fc monoclonal antibody (mAb) for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus were cultured on the LM bioreactor. Cell culture and mAb production in the LM bioreactor could be sustained for 18 days. Moreover, the anti-hIFN-a2b produced in the LM bioreactor showed higher affinity and neutralizing antiproliferative activity compared to those mAbs produced in the control condition. We demonstrate for the first-time, a large area microfluidic bioreactor for mammalian cell culture that enables a controlled microenvironment suitable for the development of high-quality biologics with potential for therapeutic use.

Development of highly stable and de-immunized versions of recombinant alpha interferon: Promising candidates for the treatment of chronic and emerging viral diseases.

Human interferon alpha (hIFN-α) administration constitutes the current FDA approved therapy for chronic Hepatitis B and C virus infections. Additionally, hIFN-α treatment efficacy was recently demonstrated in patients with COVID-19. Thus, hIFN-α constitutes a therapeutic alternative for those countries where vaccination is inaccessible and for people who did not respond effectively to vaccination. However, hIFN-α2b exhibits a short plasma half-life resulting in the occurrence of severe side effects. To optimize the cytokine's pharmacokinetic profile, we developed a hyperglycosylated IFN, referred to as GMOP-IFN. Given the significant number of reports showing neutralizing antibodies (NAb) formation after hIFN-α administration, here we applied the DeFT (De-immunization of Functional Therapeutics) approach to develop functional, de-immunized versions of GMOP-IFN. Two GMOP-IFN variants exhibited significantly reduced ex vivo immunogenicity and null antiproliferative activity, while preserving antiviral function. The results obtained in this work indicate that the new de-immunized GMOP-IFN variants constitute promising candidates for antiviral therapy.

Pharmacokinetics Versus In Vitro Antiproliferative Potency to Design a Novel Hyperglycosylated hIFN-α2 Biobetter.

PURPOSE: IFN4N is a glycoengineered version of recombinant human interferon alpha 2 (rhIFN-α2) that was modified to exhibit four N-glycosylation sites. It shows reduced in vitro specific biological activity (SBA) mainly due to R23 mutation by N23. However, it has improved pharmacokinetics and led to a high in vivo antitumor activity in mice. In order to prepare a new IFN-based biobetter, this work compares the influence of glycosylation (affecting pharmacokinetics) with the in vitro antiproliferative SBA on the in vivo efficacy. METHODS: Based on IFN4N, three groups of muteins were designed, produced, and characterized. Group A: variants with the same glycosylation degree (4N) but higher in vitro antiproliferative SBA (R23 restored); group B: muteins with higher glycosylation degree (5N) but similar in vitro antiproliferative activity; and group C: variants with improved glycosylation (5N and 6N) and in vitro antiproliferative bioactivity. RESULTS: Glycoengineering was successful for improving pharmacokinetics, and R23 restoration considerably increased in vitro antiproliferative activity of new muteins compared to IFN4N. Hyperglycosylation was able to improve the in vivo efficacy similarly to or even better than R23 restoration. Additionally, the highest glycosylated mutein exhibited the lowest immunogenicity. CONCLUSIONS: Hyperglycosylation constitutes a successful strategy to prepare a novel IFN biobetter.

Novel erythropoietin-based therapeutic candidates with extra N-glycan sites that block hematopoiesis but preserve neuroplasticity.

Neurological disorders affect millions of people causing behavior-cognitive disabilities. Nowadays they have no effective treatment. Human erythropoietin (hEPO) has been clinically used because of its neurotrophic and cytoprotective properties. However, the erythropoietic activity (EA) should be considered as a side effect. Some analogs like non-sialylated EPO, carbamylated EPO, or EPO peptides have been developed showing different weaknesses: erythropoiesis preservation, low stability, potential immunogenicity, or fast clearance. Herein, we used a novel strategy that blocks the EA but preserves hEPO neurobiological actions. N-glycoengineering was accomplished to add a new glycosylation site within the hEPO sequence responsible for its EA. hEPO-derivatives were produced by CHO.K1 cells, affinity-purified and functionally analyzed studying their in vitro and in vivo EA, their in vitro neuronal plasticity in hippocampal neurons and their neuroprotective action by rescuing hippocampal neurons from apoptosis. Muteins Mut 45_47 (K45 > N45 + N47 > T47), Mut 104 (S104 > N104), and Mut 151_153 (G151 > N151 + K153 > T153) lost their EA but preserved their neuroprotection activity and enhanced neuroplasticity more efficiently than hEPO. Interestingly, Mut 45_47 resulted in a promising candidate to explore as neurotherapeutic considering not only its biopotency but also its pharmacokinetic potential due to the hyperglycosylation.

Bifunctional GM-CSF-derived peptides as tools for O-glycoengineering and protein tagging.

Rapid development of effective biotherapeutics has been a concern during the last couple decades. In our work we designed two novel peptide tags, GMOP and mGMOP, derived from the N-terminal region of human granulocyte and macrophage colony stimulating factor (hGM-CSF), which contain four and six potential O-glycosylation sites, respectively. These peptide tags were fused to the N-terminus of human interferon-α2b (hIFN-α2b), a therapeutic antiviral and antiproliferative protein rapidly cleared from circulation. Two new molecules were obtained which, consistently with the presence of O-glycans, showed higher molecular masses, more negatively charged isoforms, and higher sialic acid content compared to wild-type IFN. In vitro bioactivity of purified chimeras revealed a similar antiviral specific biological activity (SBA) compared to unmodified IFN. A reduction of antiproliferative SBA was only observed for mGMOP-IFN. Pharmacokinetic studies in rats showed a notable improvement in terminal half-life (t1/2elim) (3.3 and 2.8 times-longer) and a marked reduction of the apparent clearance (CLapp, 3.7 and 4.1-fold lower for GMOP-IFN and mGMOP-IFN in comparison with native IFN, respectively). Furthermore, the in vitro thermal and plasma stability of both proteins was improved. Finally, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that recognizes an N-terminal GM-CSF epitope was able to bind both chimeras in western blots and ELISAs. This demonstrates the potential of both peptides to behave as bifunctional tags to create novel long-acting biotherapeutics and to facilitate detection and purification.

The glycosylation of anti-rhIFN-α2b recombinant antibodies influences the antigen-neutralizing activity.

OBJECTIVES: The influence of glycosylation on the antigen-neutralizing ability of two potential biotherapeutic anti-human IFN-α2b antibodies composed by murine and humanized single-chain Fv fused to human Fcγ1 (chimeric and humanized scFv-Fc, respectively) was studied. RESULTS: Chimeric antibodies produced in CHO-K1 and HEK293 mammalian cells showed no differences in the antigen-antibody affinity but demonstrated differences in the in vitro neutralization of IFN-α2b activity. On the other hand, the humanized antibodies produced in the same cell types showed differences in both the antigen-antibody affinity and the antigen-neutralizing ability. These differences are due to the scFv domain, as evidenced by its expression in CHO-K1 and HEK293 cells. In order to determine if the Fc glycosylation influences the antigen binding ability, both parameters were analyzed on chimeric and humanized deglycosylated scFv-Fc. Surprisingly, no differences in the antigen-antibody affinity were observed, but differences in the antigen-neutralizing ability of both chimeric and humanized antibodies, and their respectively deglycosylated glycoforms were found. CONCLUSIONS: Fc glycosylation influences the antigen neutralization ability of two anti-rhIFN-α2b recombinant antibodies. Although affinity is the widely accepted parameter to analyze antibody antigen binding, it does not appear to be sufficient to describe the behavior of recombinant antibodies in vitro. This work contributes with a high impact knowledge to develop therapeutic recombinant antibodies where glycosylation and producer cell lines must be taken into account for their influence on the antigen binding capacity and not only for their impact on the effector properties as it has been historically considered for antibodies.

Identification and characterization of human interferon alpha inhibitors through a WISH cell line-based reporter gene assay.

Interferons (IFNs) are important glycoproteins which can stimulate or inhibit up to three hundred different genes encoding proteins involved in antiviral defense mechanisms, inflammation, adaptive immunity, angiogenesis and among other processes. Nevertheless, different genetic alterations may lead to interferon alpha (IFN-α) overproduction in human autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus. As a consequence, IFN-α is a central molecule whose activity must be regulated to block their harmful effect on those disorders where the endogenous cytokine production constitutes the etiology of the illnesses. In this work, we evaluate the biological activity of eighty-eight compounds, from our own chemo-library, to find potential IFN-α inhibitors by using a reporter gene assay (RGA) WISH-Mx2/EGFP. We identified some compounds able to modulate negatively the IFN-α activity. The most active IFN-α inhibitors were further studied achieving promising results. In addition, some combinations of the most active compounds were analyzed accomplishing a stronger effect to decrease the IFN-α activity than each compound alone. Furthermore, the complete inhibition of the cytokine activity was reached with some combinations of compounds.

Design and validation of an immuno-PCR assay for IFN-α2b quantification in human plasma.

Aim: Nowadays, IFN-α is considered a promising therapeutic target for systemic lupus erythematosus. An immuno-PCR (iPCR) was developed to quantify low amounts of IFN-α in human plasma followed by a deep analysis of the methodologic robustness throughout quality by design approach. Results: An accurate, sensitive, selective and versatile iPCR was validated. The critical iPCR procedural steps were identified, applying a Plackett-Burman design. Also, this assay demonstrated an outstanding LOD of 0.3 pg/ml. A significant aspect relies on its high versatility to detect and quantify other cytokines in human plasma as the appropriate biotinylated antibody is employed. Conclusion: This reliable iPCR assay can be clinically used as an alternative method for quantitating and detecting low IFN-α2b concentrations in human plasma samples.

Effect of ANITVNITV peptide fusion on the bioactivity and pharmacokinetics of human IFN-α2b and a hyper-N-glycosylated variant.

Different strategies have been developed and successfully applied to biotherapeutics in order to improve their in vivo efficacy. The genetic fusion to natural or synthetic glycosylated peptides constitutes a promising strategy since it conserves the protein sequence and results in the improvement of the pharmacokinetic properties. The ANITVNITV peptide described by Perlmann and coworkers presents 9 amino acids and 2 potential N-glycosylation sites. Its fusion to FSH resulted in the increase of the molecular mass and negative charge of the protein. Consequently, the pharmacokinetics was considerably improved. The aim of the present study was to compare the influence of ANITVNITV peptide fusion on the physicochemical, biological and pharmacokinetic properties of native hIFN-α2b (IFNwt), which contains a single O-glycosylation site, and a hyperglycosylated variant (IFN4N), that bears, in addition, 4 N-linked glycans. The resulting molecules, IFNwtNter and IFN4NNter, evidenced a higher molecular mass and negative charge compared to IFNwt and IFN4N, respectively. Therefore, the pharmacokinetic properties of the new molecules were significantly improved. The molecules obtained by the synthetic peptide fusion strategy evidenced a decrease in their in vitro antiviral specific biological activities (SBA). However, in vitro antiproliferative SBA was differentially modified for IFNwtNter and IFN4NNter in comparison with the parental molecules. For IFNwtNter, a reduction in the antiproliferative SBA was also observed. Remarkably, the addition of the ANITVNITV peptide to the N-terminus of IFN4N had a positive impact on its growth-inhibitory activity. This feature together with its improved pharmacokinetics encourages the development of IFN4NNter as an IFN-α based biobetter.

Production of monoclonal antibodies in microfluidic devices.

Herein, a microfluidic device with cistern design for cultivation of adherent eukaryotic cells for the production of recombinant proteins is presented. The geometric configuration of the microchannels in the device provided laminar flow with reduced velocity profiles in the cisterns, resulting in an adequate microenvironment for long-term adherent cell growth with passive pumping flow cycles of 24 hours. CHO-ahIFNα2b and HEK-ahIFNα2b adherent cell lines expressing a novel anti-hIFN-α2b recombinant monoclonal antibody (MAb) for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus were cultured on the surface of PDMS/glass microchannels coated with poly-d-lysine. A 24 day culture of CHO-ahIFNα2b cells resulted in MAb concentrations up to 166.4 µg mL-1 per day. The productivity of CHO-ahIFNα2b and HEK-ahIFNα2b cell lines was higher in the microdevice compared to that obtained using the adherent cell culture method (T-flask), with a 5.89- and 7.31-fold increase, respectively. Moreover, biological analysis of the MAbs produced in the microdevice showed no significant differences in the neutralizing antiproliferative activity of the hIFN-α2b or the cytokine cell signaling compared to the MAbs produced with cell adherent methods. These results suggest that this microfluidic device is suitable for long-term culture of mammalian cells and can improve the productivity of cells expressing recombinant MAbs with potential for therapeutic use without affecting the quality attributes of the product.

Strategies to Develop Therapeutic N- and O-Hyperglycosylated Proteins.

Glycoengineering by N- and/or O-hyperglycosylation represents a procedure to introduce potential sites for adding N- and/or O-glycosyl structures to proteins with the aim of producing biotherapeutics with improved pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties. In this chapter, a detailed description of the steps routinely performed to generate new proteins having high content of N- and/or O-glycosyl moieties is carried out. The rational strategy involves the initial stage of designing N- and/or O-hyperglycosylated muteins to be expressed by mammalian cells and includes the upstream and downstream processing stages necessary to develop hyperglycosylated versions of the proteins of interest with the purpose of beginning the long road toward producing biobetters.

An unusual cysteine VL87 affects the antibody fragment conformations without interfering with the disulfide bond formation.

The Cys residues are almost perfectly conserved in all antibodies. They contribute significantly to the antibody fragment stability. The relevance of two natural contiguous Cys residues of an anti-recombinant human-follicle stimulation hormone (rhFSH) in a format of single-chain variable fragment (scFv) was studied. This scFv contains 5 Cys residues: VH22 and VH92 in the variable heavy chain (VH) and VL23, VL87 and VL88 in the variable light chain (VL). The influence of two unusual contiguous Cys at positions VL87 and VL88 was studied by considering the wild type fragment and mutant variants: VL-C88S, VL-C87S, VL-C87Y. The analysis was carried out using antigen-binding ability measurement by indirect specific ELISA and a detailed molecular modeling that comprises homology methods, long molecular dynamics simulations and docking. We found that VL-C87 affected the antibody fragment stability without interfering with the disulfide bond formation. The effect of mutating the VL-C87 by a usual residue at this position like Tyr caused distant structural changes at the VH region that confers a higher mobility to the VH-CDR2 and VH-CDR3 loops improving the scFv binding to the antigen.

A highly efficient modified human serum albumin signal peptide to secrete proteins in cells derived from different mammalian species.

Signal peptides (SPs) are key elements in the production of recombinant proteins; however, little information is available concerning different SP in mammalian cells other than CHO. In order to study the efficiency of different SPs to direct the traffic along the secretory pathway of the green fluorescence protein (GFP) and a scFv-Fc fusion protein; CHO-K1, HEK293 and NS0 cell lines were transfected in a transient and stable way. SP of human azurocidin (AZ), modified human albumin (mSA), modified Cricetulus griseus Ig kappa chain V III region MOPC 63 like (mIgκ C) and modified human Ig kappa chain V III region VG (mIgκ H) were evaluated. The efficiency of SPs to translocate a propeptide across the ER membrane was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry for the GFP inside the secretory pathway, and by antigen-specific indirect ELISA for the scFv-Fc outside the cell. The mSA SP was successful in directing the secretion of the active proteins in these different types of mammalian cells, regardless of the transgene copy number. The goal of this work was to demonstrate that a modified version of SA SP might be used in different mammalian cells employing the same expression vector.

Glycosylation and antiproliferative activity of hyperglycosylated IFN-α2 potentiate HEK293 cells as biofactories.

Both CHO and HEK cells are interesting hosts for the production of biotherapeutics due to their ability to introduce post-translational modifications such as glycosylation. Even though oligosaccharide structures attached to proteins are conserved among eukaryotes, many differences have been found between therapeutic glycoproteins expressed in hamster and human derived cells. In this work, a hyperglycosylated IFN-α2b mutein (IFN4N) was produced in CHO and HEK cell lines and an extensive characterization of their properties was performed. IFN4NCHO exhibited a higher average molecular mass and more acidic isoforms compared to IFN4NHEK. In agreement with these results, a 2-times higher sialic acid content was found for IFN4NCHO in comparison with the HEK-derived protein. This result was in agreement with monosaccharide quantification and glycan's analysis using WAX chromatography and HILIC coupled to mass spectrometry; all methods supported the existence of highly sialylated and also branched structures for IFN4NCHO glycans, in contrast with smaller and truncated structures among IFN4NHEK glycans. Unexpectedly, those remarkable differences in the glycosylation pattern had not a considerable impact on the clearance rate of both molecules in rats. In fact, although IFN4NHEK reached maximum plasma concentration 3-times faster than IFN4NCHO, their elimination profile did not differ significantly. Also, despite the in vitro antiviral specific biological activity of both proteins was the same, IFN4NHEK was more efficient as an antiproliferative agent in different tumor-derived cell lines. Accordingly, IFN4NHEK showed a higher in vivo antitumor activity in animal models. Our results show the importance of an appropriate host selection to set up a bioprocess and potentiate the use of HEK293 cells for the production of a new hyperglycosylated protein-based pharmaceutical.

Screening and characterization of molecules that modulate the biological activity of IFNs-I.

Type I Interferons (IFNs-I) are species-specific glycoproteins which play an important role as primary defence against viral infections and that can also modulate the adaptive immune system. In some autoimmune diseases, interferons (IFNs) are over-produced. IFNs are widely used as biopharmaceuticals for a variety of cancer indications, chronic viral diseases, and for their immuno-modulatory action in patients with multiple sclerosis; therefore, increasing their therapeutic efficiency and decreasing their side effects is of high clinical value. In this sense, it is interesting to find molecules that can modulate the activity of IFNs. In order to achieve that, it was necessary to establish a simple, fast and robust assay to analyze numerous compounds simultaneously. We developed four reporter gene assays (RGAs) to identify IFN activity modulator compounds by using WISH-Mx2/EGFP, HeLa-Mx2/EGFP, A549-Mx2/EGFP, and HEp2-Mx2/EGFP reporter cell lines (RCLs). All of them present a Z' factor higher than 0.7. By using these RGAs, natural and synthetic compounds were analyzed simultaneously. A total of 442 compounds were studied by the Low Throughput Screening (LTS) assay using the four RCLs to discriminate between their inhibitory or enhancing effects on IFN activity. Some of them were characterized and 15 leads were identified. Finally, one promising candidate with enhancing effect on IFN-α/-ß activity and five compounds with inhibitory effect were described.

Improvement of in vitro stability and pharmacokinetics of hIFN-α by fusing the carboxyl-terminal peptide of hCG ß-subunit.

Improving in vivo half-life and in vitro stability of protein-based therapeutics is a current challenge for the biopharmaceutical industry. In particular, recombinant human interferon alpha-2b (rhIFN-α2b), which belongs to a group of cytokines extensively used for the treatment of viral diseases and cancers, shows a poor stability in solution and an extremely short plasma half-life which determines a strict therapeutic regimen comprising high and repeated doses. In this work, we have used a strategy based on the fusion of the carboxyl-terminal peptide (CTP) of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) ß-subunit, bearing four O-linked oligosaccharide recognition sites, to each or both N- and C-terminal ends of rhIFN-α2b. Molecules containing from 5 (CTP-IFN and IFN-CTP) to 9 (CTP-IFN-CTP) O-glycosylation sites were efficiently expressed and secreted to CHO cells supernatants, and exhibited antiviral and antiproliferative bioactivities in vitro. Significant improvements in pharmacokinetics in rats were achieved through this approach, since the doubly CTP-modified IFN variant showed a 10-fold longer elimination half-life and a 19-fold decreased plasma apparent clearance compared to the wild-type cytokine. Moreover, CTP-IFN-CTP demonstrated a significant increase in in vitro thermal resistance and a higher stability against plasma protease inactivation, both features attributed to the stabilizing effects of the O-glycans provided by the CTP moiety. These results constitute the first report that postulates CTP as a tag for improving both the in vitro and in vivo stability of rhIFN-α2b which, in turn, would positively influence its in vivo bioactivity.

High performance collection of cerebrospinal fluid in rats: evaluation of erythropoietin penetration after osmotic opening of the blood-brain barrier.

An important issue to be considered when studying a new drug for treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases is its ability to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and distribute throughout the brain. As cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has demonstrated to be an invaluable reservoir to study CNS availability of therapeutic proteins, we have developed an improved method for CSF sampling from the cisterna magna of rats. The technique enables the simple and rapid collection of adequate quantities (50-75 µl) of blood-free CSF, rendering a high percentage of animal survival (99%) without clinic or neurological consequences. Its success in avoiding blood contamination of CSF lays in the use of a mixture of lidocaine/ephinephrine topically injected in the rat's suboccipital area and neck. Another relevant feature of the methodology is its low cost, since the puncture device can be easily assembled with cheap and available materials and, more importantly, neither expensive stereotaxic equipment nor frame is required. The present method is demonstrated by studying the CSF pharmacokinetics of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO), a well-studied therapeutic candidate for neurological diseases. Moreover, we applied this technique to evaluate a strategy of osmotic disruption of the BBB to achieve a faster delivery of rhEPO into the CNS.

A versatile ionic strength sensitive tag from a human GM-CSF-derived linear epitope.

A 7-mer hGM-CSF-derived linear epitope (APARSPS) is herein described as a novel and small tag taking into account its particular binding affinity in native conditions that could be easily modified by increasing or lowering the ionic strength. Thus, a 3.4 or 3.8-fold binding increment was observed in high NaCl concentration when the tag was fused to IFN-α2b or when the peptide was in its native environment, respectively. The high salt concentration increased the affinity of the binding interaction and improved the APARSPS epitope binding to the paratope allowing one to design an immunoaffinity chromatography purification step in which the high ionic strength was useful to adsorb the fusion protein to the immunoaffinity matrix and the low ionic strength at pH 9 was valuable to desorb it (a 470-fold purification with a 94%-purity was attained in only one step). Also, this short tag did not affect the functionality of the fusion protein and it was able to be detected both in the natural molecule (hGM-CSF) as in the tagged one with the same high detection limit: 273pg of each protein.

WISH cell line: from the antiviral system to a novel reporter gene assay to test the potency of human IFN-α and IFN-ß.

Interferons (IFNs) are potent biologically active proteins that are widely used as biopharmaceuticals, so their potency must be correctly identified. Usually, the biological activity is quantified by a bioassay based on its capacity to induce an antiviral state in target cells, but this type of assays is subject to virus manipulation-related issues and they show considerable intra- and inter-assay variability. In this work, we generated a reporter gene assay (RGA) supported on the WISH-Mx/eGFP reporter cell line to determine human type I IFN activity. WISH cells were stably transfected with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) gene under the control of type I IFN-inducible Mx2 promoter. This system implies the use of a standardized cell line for human IFN-potency analysis such as WISH cells and the simultaneous use of the sensitive reporter gene eGFP, having also several advantages when compared to antiviral activity assays and other RGAs: it can determine the potency of hIFN-α and hIFN-ß using only one cell line showing the highest expression of eGFP after 28h and being only observed in cells treated with type I IFNs due to the specificity of the Mx promoter. It is a sensitive assay and it represents a safe alternative when compared with the conventional antiviral tests. The cell line showed the same sensitivity along 57 generations, allowing its use during two months of successive culture. The inter- and intra-assay coefficients of variation were lower than 20%, demonstrating its reproducibility. In addition, this reporter cell line can be used for the conventional antiviral assay, either for hIFN-α or hIFN-ß. In conclusion, we have developed an alternative reporter system for the analysis of type I IFNs, in which its performance make it a suitable candidate to replace or complement conventional bioassays that are currently employed to measure IFN potency.