Hek293 as a recombinant protein factory: three different approaches for protein production

Generation of Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Exosomes to Detect and Deplete Protumorigenic M2 Macrophages

Given their protumorigenic function and prevalence in most malignant tumors with lower survival; early detection, and intervention of CD206-positive M2 macrophages may boost the clinical outcome. To determine in vivo distribution of M2 macrophages, ¹¹¹In-oxine-based radiolabeling of the targeted exosomes is adopted. When these radiolabeled targeted exosomes are injected into breast tumor-bearing mice, exosomes accumulate at the periphery of the primary tumor, metastatic foci in the lungs, spleen, and liver. Ex vivo quantification of radioactivity also shows similar distribution. Injecting DiI dye-labeled exosomes into the same mice shows adherence of exosomes to the CD206-positive M2 macrophages on ex vivo fluorescent microscopy imaging. In addition, these engineered exosomes are utilized to carry the Fc portion of lgG2b with the intention of augmenting antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. It is demonstrated that M2 macrophage targeting therapeutic exosomes deplete M2 macrophages both in vitro and in vivo, and reduce tumor burden, increasing survival in a metastatic breast cancer model.

Numerical simulation of scaling-up an inverted frusto-conical shaking bioreactor with low shear stress for mammalian cell suspension culture

Shear stress is one of the key factors affecting the large-scale culture of mammalian cells. In this study, numerical simulation based on computational fluid dynamics was used to conduct a flow-field analysis of 7, 50, 200, and 1200 L inverted frusto-conical shaking bioreactors. The results show that the shear rate, specific mass transfer area (a), and volumetric oxygen mass transfer coefficient (kLa) gradually decreased as the scale of the bioreactor increased. Through application of BHK21 and CHO cells in 7, 200, and 1200 L bioreactors, it was found that the cell density and antibody expression level increased as the volume of the bioreactor increased. Moreover, the antibody expression level in a 1200 L bioreactor was nearly 30% and 35% higher than that of 7 and 200 L bioreactors, respectively. The results demonstrate that the environment with a larger volume is more suitable for the growth and antibody expression of CHO cells, indicating shear stress might be the most critical factor affecting the scale-up of mammalian cells.

Rapid characterization of secreted recombinant proteins by native mass spectrometry

Characterization of overexpressed proteins is essential for assessing their quality, and providing input for iterative redesign and optimization. This process is typically carried out following purification procedures that require pronounced cost of time and labor. Therefore, quality assessment of recombinant proteins with no prior purification offers a major advantage. Here, we report a native mass spectrometry method that enables characterization of overproduced proteins directly from culture media. Properties such as solubility, molecular weight, folding, assembly state, overall structure, post-translational modifications and binding to relevant biomolecules are immediately revealed. We show the applicability of the method for in-depth characterization of secreted recombinant proteins from eukaryotic systems such as yeast, insect, and human cells. This method, which can be readily extended to high-throughput analysis, considerably shortens the time gap between protein production and characterization, and is particularly suitable for characterizing engineered and mutated proteins, and optimizing yield and quality of overexpressed proteins.