INTRODUCTION
Irvine Scientific specializes in developing and manufacturing cell culture media for bioproduction. To ensure the utility of the medium, CHO cell lines are tested for density, viability and productivity. The cell lines are tested at the small scale in conventional shake flasks. Gram level production of proteins and antibodies can be laborious using this type of in vitro method. Irvine Scientific is investigating a new membrane flask technology to increase small scale production levels and to decrease culture maintenance requirements.
ABSTRACT
Discovery scale, high throughput methods for in vitro antibody and protein production can be timely and typically requires fixed equipment such as shakers, pumps, or stir tank reactors. The experiment will evaluate membrane flask technology that allows for high density cell culture as well as concentration of the expressed proteins or antibodies. Two bioreactor flasks, the CELLine 350 and the CELLine 1000, will be evaluated and compared to a shake flask experimental control. The CELLine 350 has a 350mL media compartment and a 5mL cell compartment, and the CELLine 1000 has a 1000mL media compartment and a 15mL cell compartment. The cell compartments are created by a bottom gas permeable membrane and an upper dialysis membrane allowing for diffusion of media into the cell compartment. The testing of both sizes will allow for a comparison of scalability.
In this experiment we will also be evaluating two different media formulations. Both the shake flask control and the CELLine flasks will utilize BalanCD™ CHO Growth A or IS CHO-CD G10.7. The shake flask cultures will operate as both batch and fed-batch cultures (fed on days 3-6). The CELLine bioreactor flasks had IgG harvested, the media changed and the cells split every 7 days. Cell concentrations, viability and IgG quantification will be measured across the 8 assessments. (2 CELLine 350s, 2 CELLine 1000s and 4 - 125mL shake flask cultures).
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Media Compartment — The media compartment allows for bulk storage of cell culture growth medium. This reduces the media refreshing requirement significantly as the media compartment is fifty times the size of the cell compartment.
Metabolite Regulating Upper Membrane — The upper dialysis membrane has a 10 kDa cut off limit. This regulates the flow of metabolites to and from the cell compartment and retains all proteins in the cell compartment.
Cell Compartment — The cell compartment provides the ideal area to inoculate and achieve high density cultures. The compartment concentrates cells, their products, and limits the requirement for any exogenous growth factors.
Gas Permeable Lower Membrane — With static cultures, gas transfer rates can be the limiting factor in high density cultures. The CELLine bioreactor flask places the cells directly against the gas permeable membrane to achieve optimal levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
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Antibody Production in CELLine Bioreactor Flask
The IgG concentration was measured throughout the CELLine bioreactor flask operation. A total of 60mL was collected from each CELLine 1000 over the course of 4 harvests from the 15mL cell compartment. A total of 20mL was collected from the CELLine 350 over the course of 4 harvests from the 5mL cell compartment. The results show up to 0.5g IgG production in 28 days and indicate linear scaling of the CELLine 1000 and CELLine 350 devices.
Antibody Production in Shake Flask
The shake flask IgG concentration was monitored during culture for both batch and fed-batch conditions.
Conclusion
The experiment provided consistent results in the shake flasks and the CELLine bioreactor flasks. There was more yield using the BalanCD™ CHO Growth A than the IS CHO-CD G10.7. The amount of labor required to operate the CELLine flask was higher than the shake flask but the yield was much higher. The CELLine flask did not require any additional fixed equipment, such as shaking equipment. The purification burden was lower for the CELLine flask as the total harvest volumes were 60mL and 20mL, over four harvests, that contained approximately 7g of IgG per Liter. The shake flask cultures had a single harvest at 36mL and 30mL with an average concentration of IgG of 2.1g per Liter. One surprising result was the potential reduction in scale up time using the CELLine flasks. To operate a 1 Liter shake flask, four times the amount of cells are required for initial seeding; approximately 90 million compared to 20 million required to seed a CELLine bioreactor flask. This could potentially save 1-2 weeks in scale up time. Further studies need to be conducted to determine if the media needs to be refreshed every 7 days or if the media can support cell growth for a longer period of time. This could potentially decrease the operational costs and service requirements.
The experiment also showed that the CELLine bioreactor flask size and run time can be selected based on required yield. The CELLine 1000 is 3 times the size of CELLine 350 and scales linearly.
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Media Information
- BalanCD™ CHO Growth A is a chemically-defined growth medium, containing no animal-derived components. The formulation was developed using Irvine Scientific's Rational Culture Media Design® strategy with three model cell lines, and specifically designed to support growth and productivity in a variety of CHO cells in both batch and fed-batch cultures.
- IS CHO-CD G10.7 is part of Irvine Scientific's CHO Media Development Kit. It is a chemically-defined growth media with no animal derived components that was designed to help control metabolic overflow and support growth and productivity in a variety of CHO cells in both batch and fed-batch cultures.
- BalanCD™ CHO Feed 1 and BalanCD™ CHO Feed 3 are both chemically defined, animal component free and protein-free feed media designed to provide cell culture nutrients for fed-batch applications in conjunction with BalanCD™ CHO Growth A. These feeds have been developed to promote cell growth and MAb production in a variety of CHO cells.
Materials and Methods
Shake Flask Culture
Shake flasks (125mL) were used in conjunction with BalanCD™ CHO Growth A or IS CHO-CD G10.7, 30mL initial working volume. Five percent feed of BalanCD™ CHO Feed 1 or BalanCD™ CHO Feed 3, was provided on days 3, 4, 5 and 6 for a total of 20% initial volume. Conditions: shake speed 120 RPM, 5% CO2, and 37°C humidified incubator. Cells were counted with Beckman Coulter Vi-Cell and IgG quantified by Forte' Bio Octet kEQ. Initial seeding density was 0.3 x 106 cells/mL.
CELLine Bioreactor Flask Culture
CELLine flasks were used in conjunction with BalanCD™ CHO Growth A and IS CHO-CD G10.7. Cells were split 1:4 every 7 days. Media was refreshed every seven days. Conditions: 5% CO2, 37°C Humidified incubator. Cells were counted with Beckman Coulter Vi-Cell and IgG quantified by Forte' Bio Octet kEQ. Initial seeding density was 1.5x106 cells/mL.
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Irvine Scientific Company Profile Irvine Scientific, a member of JX Holdings group, is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of medical devices, including Industrial Cell Culture, Cytogenetic, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and Specialty Media products. Irvine Scientific is a large scale producer of advanced quality cell culture media for the industrial bioprocess, medical, and diagnostic markets. The company's extensive experience in the design of culture media, compliance with ISO and FDA regulations for class II / III medical devices, and industrial scale manufacturing capacity provides its customers with unique capabilities and support. Irvine Scientific delivers products worldwide to biopharmaceutical industry, research and medical laboratory communities.
Authors
Brandy Nunez | Irvine Scientific
Brian Canna, MBA | WHEATON
Jessie Ni, PhD | Irvine Scientific
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