title: Development of a generic transient transfection process at 100 L scale.
abstract: We have developed a generic transient transfection process at 100 L scale, using HEK293-EBNA cells and PEI as the transfection reagent for the production of recombinant IgG. The process, including large-scale plasmid preparation, expression at bioreactor scale, capture, purification and, if necessary, endotoxin removal allows reproducible production of more than 0.5 g IgG for in vitro and in vivo studies. We compared the performance of two HEK cell lines, investigated the effect of conditioned medium, optimized the DNA:PEI ratio and implemented a feed strategy to prolong the culture time to increase product yield. The transient transfection protocol developed enables a closed process from seeding culture to protein capture. The challenge of performing a medium exchange before transfection at large scale is solved by applying a continuous centrifugation step between the seeding bioreactor and the production bioreactor. After 7-8 days the harvest and capture is performed in a one-step operation using a Streamline expanded bed chromatography system. Following a polishing step the purified antibody is transferred to the final formulation buffer. The method has shown to be reproducible at 10, 50, and 100 L scale expressing between 5 and 8 mg L(-1) IgG.
authors.affiliation: Global Protein Science & Supply, DECS, AstraZeneca R&D Södertälje, Building 841, 151 85, Sodertalje, Sweden.
authors.forename: Ola
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tuvesson
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Uhe
authors.forename: Aleksei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rozkov
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lüllau