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Utilization of the human gamma-satellite insulator for the enhancement of anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibody expression in Chinese hamster ovary cells

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Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are widely employed as invaluable therapeutics for a vast number of human disorders. Several approaches have been introduced for the improvement of mAb production in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells due to the increasing demand for these products. In this regard, various chromatin-modifying elements such as insulators have been incorporated in the expression vectors to augment mAb expression. In this study, human gamma-satellite insulator containing vectors were utilized for the expression of an anti-proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) mAb in CHO-K1 cells. To this aim, dual expression vectors encoding the antibody light chain (LC) and heavy chain (HC) with or without the insulator element were constructed, and mAb expression was evaluated in transient and stable expression. Based on the results, mAb expression significantly increased in the stable cell pool, and clonal cells developed using the human gamma-satellite insulator. In contrast, transient antibody expression was not affected by the insulator element. Finally, the enhancement of LC and HC mRNA levels was found in the insulator containing stable cell pools using the quantitative real-time-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Our findings showed the positive effect of the human gamma-satellite insulator on the stable expression of an anti-PCSK9 immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) mAb in CHO-K1 cells using dual expression vectors.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

Authors wish to thank Dr. Alexey Tomilin (Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Science, Russia) for providing the human gamma-satellite element.

Funding

This study was supported by Deputy of Research and Technology, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (Grant Number 18150) and Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran (Grant Number 96GCU4M1984).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

    Somayeh Mahboudi, Marzieh Moosavi-Nasab & Mohammad Hadi Eskandari

  2. Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Bahram Kazemi

  3. Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Bahram Kazemi & Forough Shams

  4. Medical Nano-Technology & Tissue Engineering Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Azam Rahimpour

  5. Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Azam Rahimpour

  6. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Omid Mohammadian

Authors
  1. Somayeh Mahboudi
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  2. Marzieh Moosavi-Nasab
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  3. Bahram Kazemi
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  4. Azam Rahimpour
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  5. Mohammad Hadi Eskandari
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  6. Omid Mohammadian
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  7. Forough Shams
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Correspondence to Marzieh Moosavi-Nasab or Azam Rahimpour.

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Mahboudi, S., Moosavi-Nasab, M., Kazemi, B. et al. Utilization of the human gamma-satellite insulator for the enhancement of anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibody expression in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Mol Biol Rep 48, 4405–4412 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06456-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06456-0

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