Chinese Hamster Ovary Cell Line Instability: Causes, Mitigation, and Prediction

• Published in: Biotechnology and bioprocess engineering Vol. 28; no. 5; pp. 750 - 760
• Main Authors: Joo, Yun, Kim, Hagyeong, Baik, Jong Youn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering 01.10.2023; Springer Nature B.V; 한국생물공학회
• Subjects: Biopharmaceuticals; Biotechnology; Cell lines; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cricetulus griseus; Drug development; Epigenetics; gene expression; Industrial and Production Engineering; Instability; labor; Ovaries; phenotype; prediction; Predictions; Production costs; Review Paper; Stability; Stability tests; Transgenes; 생물공학; biomanufacturing; long-term culture; cell line instability; stability prediction; biomarker; CHO cell
• ISSN: 1226-8372; 1976-3816
• DOI: 10.1007/s12257-023-0120-6

Cell line instability is a common problem in biopharmaceutical manufacturing using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Cell line instability, which refers to unintended and unpredicted genetic, epigenetic, and phenotypic changes over time, can increase production costs and threaten sales approval by reducing product quantity and quality. While a stability test is conducted to screen cell lines with stable transgene expression, this process requires several months, delaying the entire drug development timeline. To accelerate timeline for drug development, understanding, mitigation, and prediction of cell line instability are critical. In this review, we update recent research progresses regarding instability-inducing biological mechanisms and alleviating the intrinsic instability of CHO cells. We also discuss studies that contribute to predicting irregular phenotypic changes in recombinant protein-producing CHO cell lines, based on omics-based studies. These prediction strategies will contribute to complementing current instability alleviating strategies, thereby saving labor, cost, and time for the cell line development process as well as providing a comprehensive understanding of CHO cell biology.