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Metabolic characterization of a CHO cell size increase phase in fed-batch cultures.

ABSTRACT: Normally, the growth profile of a CHO cell fed-batch process can be divided into two main phases based on changes in cell concentration, being an exponential growth phase and a stationary (non-growth) phase. In this study, an additional phase is observed during which the cell division comes to a halt but the cell growth continues in the form of an increase in cell size. The cell size increase (SI) phase occurs between the exponential proliferation phase (also called the number increase or NI phase) and the stationary phase. During the SI phase, the average volume and dry weight per cell increase threefold linearly with time. The average mAb specific productivity per cell increases linearly with the cell volume and therefore is on average two times higher in the SI phase than in the NI phase. The specific essential amino acids consumption rates per cell remain fairly constant between the NI and the SI phase, which agrees with the similar biomass production rate per cell between these two phases. Accumulation of fatty acids and formation of lipid droplets in the cells are observed during the SI phase, indicating that the fatty acids synthesis rate exceeds the demand for the synthesis of membrane lipids. A metabolic comparison between NI and SI phase shows that the cells with a larger size produce more mAb per unit of O₂ and nutrient consumed, which can be used for further process optimization.

SUBMITTER: Pan X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5656727 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Metabolic characterization of a CHO cell size increase phase in fed-batch cultures.

Pan Xiao X Dalm Ciska C Wijffels René H RH Martens Dirk E DE

Applied microbiology and biotechnology 20170926 22

Normally, the growth profile of a CHO cell fed-batch process can be divided into two main phases based on changes in cell concentration, being an exponential growth phase and a stationary (non-growth) phase. In this study, an additional phase is observed during which the cell division comes to a halt but the cell growth continues in the form of an increase in cell size. The cell size increase (SI) phase occurs between the exponential proliferation phase (also called the number increase or NI pha ...[more]

PMID: 28951949

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Project description:BackgroundAs bioprocess intensification has increased over the last 30 years, yields from mammalian cell processes have increased from 10's of milligrams to over 10's of grams per liter. Most of these gains in productivity can be attributed to increasing cell densities within bioreactors. As such, strategies have been developed to minimize accumulation of metabolic wastes, such as lactate and ammonia. Unfortunately, neither cell growth nor biopharmaceutical production can occur without some waste metabolite accumulation. Inevitably, metabolic waste accumulation leads to decline and termination of the culture. While it is understood that the accumulation of these unwanted compounds imparts a suboptimal culture environment, little is known about the genotoxic properties of these compounds that may lead to global genome instability. In this study, we examined the effects of high and moderate extracellular ammonia on the physiology and genomic integrity of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells.ResultsThrough whole genome sequencing, we discovered 2394 variant sites within functional genes comprised of both single nucleotide polymorphisms and insertion/deletion mutations as a result of ammonia stress with high or moderate impact on functional genes. Furthermore, several of these de novo mutations were found in genes whose functions are to maintain genome stability, such as Tp53, Tnfsf11, Brca1, as well as Nfkb1. Furthermore, we characterized microsatellite content of the cultures using the CriGri-PICR Chinese hamster genome assembly and discovered an abundance of microsatellite loci that are not replicated faithfully in the ammonia-stressed cultures. Unfaithful replication of these loci is a signature of microsatellite instability. With rigorous filtering, we found 124 candidate microsatellite loci that may be suitable for further investigation to determine whether these loci may be reliable biomarkers to predict genome instability in CHO cultures.ConclusionThis study advances our knowledge with regards to the effects of ammonia accumulation on CHO cell culture performance by identifying ammonia-sensitive genes linked to genome stability and lays the foundation for the development of a new diagnostic tool for assessing genome stability.

Project description:Biomass and cell-specific metabolic rates usually change dynamically over time, making the "feed according to need" strategy difficult to realize in a commercial fed-batch process. We here demonstrate a novel feeding strategy which is designed to hold a particular metabolic state in a fed-batch process by adaptive feeding in real time. The feed rate is calculated with a transferable biomass model based on capacitance, which changes the nutrient flow stoichiometrically in real time. A limited glucose environment was used to confine the cell in a particular metabolic state. In order to cope with uncertainty, two strategies were tested to change the adaptive feed rate and prevent starvation while in limitation: (i) inline pH and online glucose concentration measurement or (ii) inline pH alone, which was shown to be sufficient for the problem statement. In this contribution, we achieved metabolic control within a defined target range. The direct benefit was two-fold: the lactic acid profile was improved and pH could be kept stable. Multivariate Data Analysis (MVDA) has shown that pH influenced lactic acid production or consumption in historical data sets. We demonstrate that a low pH (around 6.8) is not required for our strategy, as glucose availability is already limiting the flux. On the contrary, we boosted glycolytic flux in glucose limitation by setting the pH to 7.4. This new approach led to a yield of lactic acid/glucose (Y L/G) around zero for the whole process time and high titers in our labs. We hypothesize that a higher carbon flux, resulting from a higher pH, may lead to more cells which produce more product. The relevance of this work aims at feeding mammalian cell cultures safely in limitation with a desired metabolic flux range. This resulted in extremely stable, low glucose levels, very robust pH profiles without acid/base interventions and a metabolic state in which lactic acid was consumed instead of being produced from day 1. With this contribution, we wish to extend the basic repertoire of available process control strategies, which will open up new avenues in automation technology and radically improve process robustness in both process development and manufacturing.

Project description:Although process intensification by continuous operation has been successfully applied in the chemical industry, the biopharmaceutical industry primarily uses fed-batch, rather than continuous or perfusion methods, to produce stable monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) from Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Conventional fed-batch bioreactors may start with an inoculation viable cell density (VCD) of ~0.5 × 106 cells/mL. Increasing the inoculation VCD in the fed-batch production bioreactor (referred to as N stage bioreactor) to 2-10 × 106 cells/mL by introducing perfusion operation or process intensification at the seed step (N-1 step) prior to the production bioreactor has recently been used because it increases manufacturing output by shortening cell culture production duration. In this study, we report that increasing the inoculation VCD significantly improved the final titer in fed-batch production within the same 14-day duration for 3 mAbs produced by 3 CHO GS cell lines. We also report that other non-perfusion methods at the N-1 step using either fed batch or batch mode with enriched culture medium can similarly achieve high N-1 final VCD of 22-34 × 106 cells/mL. These non-perfusion N-1 seeds supported inoculation of subsequent production fed-batch production bioreactors at increased inoculation VCD of 3-6 × 106 cells/mL, where these achieved titer and product quality attributes comparable to those inoculated using the perfusion N-1 seeds demonstrated in both 5-L bioreactors, as well as scaled up to 500-L and 1000-L N-stage bioreactors. To operate the N-1 step using batch mode, enrichment of the basal medium was critical at both the N-1 and subsequent intensified fed-batch production steps. The non-perfusion N-1 methodologies reported here are much simpler alternatives in operation for process development, process characterization, and large-scale commercial manufacturing compared to perfusion N-1 seeds that require perfusion equipment, as well as preparation and storage vessels to accommodate large volumes of perfusion media. Although only 3 stable mAbs produced by CHO cell cultures are used in this study, the basic principles of the non-perfusion N-1 seed strategies for shortening seed train and production culture duration or improving titer should be applicable to other protein production by different mammalian cells and other hosts at any scale biologics facilities.

Dataset Information

Metabolic characterization of a CHO cell size increase phase in fed-batch cultures.

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Metabolic characterization of a CHO cell size increase phase in fed-batch cultures.

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