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Combinatorial engineering of ldh-a and bcl-2 for reducing lactate production and improving cell growth in dihydrofolate reductase-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cells

  • Applied Genetics and Molecular Biotechnology
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Abstract

In Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, rapid glucose metabolism normally leads to inefficient use of glucose, most of which is converted to lactate during cell cultures. Since lactate accumulation during the culture often exerts a negative effect on cell growth and valuable product formation, several genetic engineering approaches have been developed to suppress lactate dehydrogenase-A (LDH-A), the enzyme converting pyruvate into lactate. However, despite the reduced lactate accumulation, such cell cultures are eventually terminated in the late period of the culture, mainly due to apoptosis. Therefore, we developed an apoptosis-resistant, less lactate-producing dhfr − CHO cell line (CHO-Bcl2-LDHAsi) by overexpressing Bcl-2, one of the most well-known anti-apoptotic proteins, and by downregulating LDH-A in a dhfr − CHO cell line. When the dhfr − CHO-Bcl2-LDHAsi cell line was used as a host cell line for the development of recombinant CHO (rCHO) cells producing an Fc-fusion protein, the culture longevity of the rCHO cells was extended without any detrimental effect of genetic engineering on specific protein productivity. Simultaneously, the specific lactate production rate and apparent yield of lactate from glucose were reduced to 21–65% and 37–78% of the control cells, respectively. Taken together, these results show that the use of an apoptosis-resistant, less lactate-producing dhfr − CHO cell line as a host cell line saves the time and the effort of establishing an apoptosis-resistant, less lactate-producing rCHO cells for producing therapeutic proteins.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the World Class University program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST, R31-2008-000-10071-0), the Converging Research Center Program through the NRF funded by the MEST (2009-0082276), and a grant from the Fundamental R&D Program for Technology of World Premier Materials funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Republic of Korea.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Nanoscience and Technology (WCU), KAIST, 373-1 Kusong-Dong, Yusong-gu, Daejon, 305-701, South Korea

    Min Kyoung Jeon, Da Young Yu & Gyun Min Lee

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  1. Min Kyoung Jeon
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  2. Da Young Yu
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Correspondence to Gyun Min Lee.

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Jeon, M.K., Yu, D.Y. & Lee, G.M. Combinatorial engineering of ldh-a and bcl-2 for reducing lactate production and improving cell growth in dihydrofolate reductase-deficient Chinese hamster ovary cells. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 92, 779–790 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-011-3475-0

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