Many high‐value added recombinant proteins, such as therapeutic glycoproteins, are produced using mammalian cell cultures. In order to optimize the productivity of these cultures it is important to monitor cellular metabolism, for example the utilization of nutrients and the accumulation of metabolic waste products. One metabolic waste product of interest is lactic acid (lactate), overaccumulation of which can decrease cellular growth and protein production. Current methods for the detection of lactate are limited in terms of cost, sensitivity, and robustness. Therefore, we developed a whole‐cell Escherichia coli lactate biosensor based on the lldPRD operon and successfully used it to monitor lactate concentration in mammalian cell cultures. Using real samples and analytical validation we demonstrate that our biosensor can be used for absolute quantification of metabolites in complex samples with high accuracy, sensitivity, and robustness. Importantly, our whole‐cell biosensor was able to detect lactate at concentrations more than two orders of magnitude lower than the industry standard method, making it useful for monitoring lactate concentrations in early phase culture. Given the importance of lactate in a variety of both industrial and clinical contexts we anticipate that our whole‐cell biosensor can be used to address a range of interesting biological questions. It also serves as a blueprint for how to capitalize on the wealth of genetic operons for metabolite sensing available in nature for the development of other whole‐cell biosensors. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1290–1300. © 2017 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A major challenge in downstream purification of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) is the removal of host cell proteins (HCPs). Previous studies have shown that cell culture conditions significantly impact the HCP content at harvest. However, it is currently unclear how process conditions affect physiological changes in the host cell population, and how these changes, in turn, cascade down to change the HCP profile. We examined how temperature downshift (TDS) to mild hypothermia affects key upstream performance indicators, that is antibody titre, HCP concentration and HCP species, across the cell culture decline phase and at harvest through the lens of changes in cellular behavior. Mild hypothermic conditions introduced on day 5 of fed-batch Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell bioreactors resulted in a lower cell proliferation rate but larger percentages of healthier cells across the cell culture decline phase compared to bioreactors maintained at standard physiological temperature. Moreover, the onset of apoptosis was less evident in mild hypothermic cultures. Consequently, mild hypothermic cultures took an extra 5 days to reach an integral viable cell concentration (IVCC) and antibody yield similar to that of the control at standard physiological temperature. When cell viability dropped below 80%, mild hypothermic cell cultures had a reduced variety of HCP species by 36%, including approximately 44% and 27% lower proteases and chaperones, respectively, despite having similar HCP concentration. This study suggests that TDS may be a good strategy to provide cleaner downstream feedstocks by reducing the variety of HCPs and to maintain product integrity by reducing the number of proteases and chaperones.

Downstream processing of protein products of mammalian cell culture currently accounts for the largest fraction of the total production cost. A major challenge is the removal of host cell proteins, which are cell-derived impurities. Host cell proteins are potentially immunogenic and can compromise product integrity during processing and hold-up steps. There is an increasing body of evidence that the type of host cell proteins present in recombinant protein preparations is a function of cell culture conditions and handling of the harvest cell culture fluid. This, in turn, can affect the performance of downstream purification steps as certain species are difficult to remove and may require bespoke process solutions. Herein, we review recent research on the interplay between upstream process conditions, host cell protein composition and their downstream removal in antibody production processes, identifying opportunities for increasing process understanding and control. We further highlight advances in analytical and computational techniques that can enable the application of quality by design.

Host cell proteins (HCPs) are endogenous impurities, and their proteolytic and binding properties can compromise the integrity, and, hence, the stability and efficacy of recombinant therapeutic proteins such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Nonetheless, purification of mAbs currently presents a challenge because they often co-elute with certain HCP species during the capture step of protein A affinity chromatography. A Quality-by-Design (QbD) strategy to overcome this challenge involves identifying residual HCPs and tracing their source to the harvested cell culture fluid (HCCF) and the corresponding cell culture operating parameters. Then, problematic HCPs in HCCF may be reduced by cell engineering or culture process optimization. Here, we present experimental results linking cell culture temperature and post-protein A residual HCP profile. We had previously reported that Chinese hamster ovary cell cultures conducted at standard physiological temperature and with a shift to mild hypothermia on day 5 produced HCCF of comparable product titer and HCP concentration, but with considerably different HCP composition. In this study, we show that differences in HCP variety at harvest cascaded to downstream purification where different residual HCPs were present in the two sets of samples post-protein A purification. To detect low-abundant residual HCPs, we designed a looping liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method with continuous expansion of a preferred, exclude, and targeted peptide list. Mild hypothermic cultures produced 20% more residual HCP species, especially cell membrane proteins, distinct from the control. Critically, we identified that half of the potentially immunogenic residual HCP species were different between the two sets of samples.

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