In situ Recovery of hCTLA4Ig from Suspension Cell Cultures of Oryza sativa

Abstract

In this research, recombinant human cytotoxic Tlymphocyte antigen 4-immunoglobulin (hCTLA4Ig) was produced by transgenic rice cells. RAmy3D promoter was used for overcome the limitation of low expression level in transgenic plant cells, and the secretion of target protein was accomplished by signal peptide. However, the RAmy3D promoter system which can be induced only by sugar starvation causes the decrease of cell viability. As a result, cell death promotes the release of protease which degrades the target proteins. The protein stability and productivity can be significantly influenced by proteolysis activity. Therefore, development of new strategies are necessary for the in situ recovery of target proteins from cell culture media. In this study, in situ recovery was performed by various strategies. Direct addition of Protein A resin with nylon bag leads to cell death by increased shear stress and decrease in production of hCTLA4Ig by protease. Medium exchange through modified flask could recover hCTLA4Ig with high cell viability and low protease activity, on the other hand, the productivity was lower than that of control. When in situ recovery was conducted at day 7 after induction in air-lift bioreactor, 1.94-fold of hCTLA4Ig could be recovered compared to control culture without in situ recovery. Consequently, in situ recovery of hCTLA4Ig from transgenic rice cell culture could enhance productivity significantly and prevent degradation of target proteins effectively.