Description

Multiple strains of Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) parental cell lines are currently used for biotherapeutic protein production.
While it has been established that each of these parental lines possess unique characteristics (e.g. DHFR–) that can infl uence
recombinant protein productivity, the mechanisms that control the differences are poorly understood. Potential mechanisms
may include predisposition for integration into highly transcriptionally active loci within the genome, variations in transgene
copy number, transcription levels and variations in chaperones or other protein modifi cation and secretion machinery.
Analysis of potential protein production or secretion bottlenecks in each of these parental cells could allow us to gain a better
understanding of the limitations of each line and would permit tailored parental cell line engineering. To better characterize
such differences in expression and secretion capacity, we quantitatively analyzed production of Green Fluorescent Protein
(GFP) and secretion of recombinant human IgG in transiently transfected CHOK1SV, ECACC K1 and CHO DG44 parental cell
lines. By analyzing these production trends in a transient transfection system, we were able to compare recombinant protein
production and secretion between the different CHO parental cell lines independent of integration site effects.