Effects of anti-apoptotic agents on production of albumin-EPO and cell viability in CHO cell cultures

초록

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are one of the predominant systems for the production of recombinant proteins among eukaryotic expression systems. Recently, various strategies have been studied on increasing specific productivity in CHO cell cultures. Under nutrient deprivation, cells are unable to proliferate because they are subjected to two types of programmed cell death (apoptosis and autophagy) or necrosis in batch culture. Anti-apoptotic agents have been known to inhibit cell death in mammalians cell cultures and extensively applied in recombinant CHO cell cultures. To investigate the effects of anti-apoptotic agents on the production of recombinant albumin-erythropoietin (Alb-EPO) fusion protein, various chemicals were added into CHO cell cultures in exponential growth phase. Among the agents tested, sericin was found to be the most effective. Compared to control cultures without sericin, the culture with 1 mg/mL sericin enhanced the cell viability by 12%. In conclusion, it was found that the addition of adequate anti-apoptotic agent could increase the viability of CHO cells and accordingly enhance the production of recombinant Alb-EPO fusion protein.