Gudrun Schiedner

Efficient Transformation of Primary Human Amniocytes by E1 Functions of Ad5: Generation of New Cell Lines for Adenoviral Vector Production

Primary human cells are relatively refractory to transformation by adenoviral E1 functions. For almost two decades, human embryonic kidney (HEK)-derived 293 cells have been the only E1-complementing cell line suitable for production of E1-deleted adenoviral vectors. More recently, new vector production cell lines have been derived from human embryonic retina (HER) cells, a cell type that is difficult to obtain. We were surprised to find that readily available primary human amniocytes are efficiently transformed by adenoviral E1 functions. We selected cell lines that allow high-titer production of recombinant adenoviral vectors. The generation of replication-competent adenovirus (RCA) during production, caused by homologous recombination between vector and cellular DNA, was excluded by designing the transforming plasmid to lack sequence overlap with current adenoviral vectors. In addition, we generated an infectious plasmid that can be used for convenient generation of first-generation adenoviral vectors in Escherichia coli and that matches the E1 complementation in the new production cell lines.

Selective Depletion or Blockade of Kupffer Cells Leads to Enhanced and Prolonged Hepatic Transgene Expression Using High-Capacity Adenoviral Vectors

Tissue macrophages, in particular hepatic Kupffer cells (KCs), contribute to early inflammatory responses following adenoviral vector administration. This study evaluates the effect of selective and transient (3 days) depletion of KCs by a single injection of clodronate liposomes on the in vivo performance of high-capacity adenoviral (HC-Ad) vectors. In KC-depleted C57BL/6 and C3H mice increased and stabilized hAAT levels were observed following intravenous injection of HC-Ad vectors expressing human alpha-1 anti-trypsin (hAAT) either from the hAAT promoter or from the human cytomegalovirus promoter. Comparable increases in hAAT levels were obtained in mice preinjected with a transcriptionally silent HC-Ad vector. Interestingly, in the majority of animals of both strains depletion of KCs was sufficient to prevent the generation of anti-hAAT antibodies, resulting in prolonged transgene expression. Thus, short-term and selective depletion of hepatic macrophages at the same time significantly increased hepatic transgene expression and reduced the humoral immune response to the transgenic protein.

A hemodynamic response to intravenous adenovirus vector particles is caused by systemic Kupffer cell-mediated activation of endothelial cells.

Intravascular injection of adenoviral vectors may result in a toxic and potentially lethal reaction, the mechanism of which is poorly understood. We noted that mice demonstrated a transient change in behavior that was characterized by inactivity and lethargy within minutes after intravenous injection of relatively low doses of adenoviral vectors (including high-capacity gutless vectors). Moreover, immediately after vector injection a significant drop in blood pressure was measured that most probably was caused by the systemic activation of endothelial cells as monitored by detection of phosphorylated Akt/PKB kinase, activated endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), and nitrotyrosine. The activation of the endothelium was the result of the interaction of viral particles with Kupffer cells, which are resident macrophages of the liver representing the first line of defense of the innate immune system. Surprisingly, the uptake of vector particles by Kupffer cells not only resulted in their strong activation, but also in their nearly complete disappearance from the liver. Our results suggest that the toxicity of intravenously injected adenoviral vectors may be directly linked to the activation and destruction of Kupffer cells.

A DNA-Based Method to Assay Total and Infectious Particle Contents and Helper Virus Contamination in High-Capacity Adenoviral Vector Preparations

High-capacity adenoviral (HC-Ad) vectors are devoid of all viral genes. Therefore, these vectors feature reduced toxicity, immunogenicity, and increased capacity for foreign DNA. HC-Ad vectors are produced in E1-transformed cell lines in the presence of an E1-deleted helper virus that provides in trans all viral functions necessary for vector production. By cre/loxP- or FLPe/Frt-mediated recombination the packaging signal of the helper virus is excised during vector production resulting in nonpackagable helper virus genomes. Although recombinase-mediated excision of the packaging signal from the helper virus genome is highly efficient, a small number of helper virus genomes with retained packaging signals are still packaged into capsids. For clinical trials, HC-Ad vector preparations have to be characterized accurately with respect to the number of (1) total HC-Ad vector particles, (2) infectious HC-Ad vector particles, and (3) the number of contaminating helper virus particles. We describe a fast and versatile DNA-based biologic assay for determination of these three parameters by standard laboratory methods. This assay is a useful tool for determining bioactivity data of adenoviral vector preparations and, importantly, allows their comparison among different studies.

Targeting of High-Capacity Adenoviral Vectors

High-capacity adenoviral (HC-Ad) vectors contain only the noncoding termini of the viral genome, can deliver large DNA fragments of up to 36 kb into target cells, and feature reduced toxicity and prolonged transgene expression in vivo. To enhance the potential of HC-Ad vectors to transduce specific cell types, we constructed a versatile infectious new helper virus plasmid that can be used readily to introduce peptide ligands into the HI loop of the fiber knob domain of Ad5-based HC-Ad vectors. Helper viruses with a 6x-His epitope or Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptide insertion retained the full infectivity of the wild-type helper virus. The RGD-modified helper virus was used for production of a capsid-modified HC-Ad vector expressing beta-galactosidase. The RGD HC-Ad vector transduced the ovarian carcinoma cell lines SK-OV-3 and OVCAR-3 with 4- to 20-fold higher efficiency, compared to unmodified vectors. Transduction of both primary vascular smooth muscle cells as well as primary human endothelial cells was increased up to 15-fold with the RGD-modified vector. Competition experiments with recombinant knob protein and different RGD peptides indicated that the RGD-mediated transduction was Coxsackie and Adenovirus receptor (CAR)-independent and involved integrin alpha(v)beta(5). The use of fiber-modified helper viruses in the last amplification step of HC-Ad vector production allows for convenient and efficient targeting of these vectors towards different cell types. Targeting strategies will increase the spectrum of applications for HC-Ad vectors and will further add to their safety.

Variables Affecting In Vivo Performance of High-Capacity Adenovirus Vectors

ABSTRACT In high-capacity adenovirus (HC-Ad) vectors the size and/or composition of the vector genome influences vector stability during production and the expression profile following gene transfer. Typically, an HC-Ad vector will contain both a gene or an expression cassette and stuffer DNA that is required to balance the final vector genome to a size of between 27 and 36 kb. To gain an improved understanding of factors that may influence gene expression from HC-Ad vectors, we have generated a series of vectors that carry different combinations of human alpha-1 antitrypsin (hAAT) expression constructs and stuffer DNAs. Expression in vitro did not predict in vivo performance: all vectors expressed hAAT at similar levels when tested in cell culture. Hepatic expression was evaluated following in vivo gene transfer in C57BL/6J mice. hAAT levels obtained from genomic DNA were significantly higher than levels achieved with small cDNA expression cassettes. Expression was independent of the orientation and only marginally influenced by the location of the expression cassette within the vector genome. The use of lambda stuffer DNA resulted in low-level but stable expression for at least 3 months when higher doses were applied. A potential matrix attachment region element was identified within the hAAT gene and caused a 10-fold increase in expression when introduced in an HC-Ad vector genome carrying a phosphoglycerate kinase (pgk) hAAT cDNA construct. We also illustrate the influence of the promoter on anti-hAAT antibody formation in C57BL/6J mice: a human cytomegalovirus but not a pgk promoter resulted in an anti-hAAT antibody response. Thus, the overall design of HC-Ad vectors may significantly influence amounts and duration of gene expression at different levels.

Efficient and reproducible generation of high-expressing, stable human cell lines without need for antibiotic selection

BackgroundHuman cell lines are the most innovative choice of host cell for production of biopharmaceuticals since they allow for authentic posttranslational modification of therapeutic proteins. We present a new method for generating high and stable protein expressing cell lines based on human amniocytes without the requirement of antibiotic selection.ResultsPrimary amniocytes from routine amniocentesis samples can be efficiently transformed with adenoviral functions resulting in stable human cell lines. Cotransfection of the primary human amniocytes with a plasmid expressing adenoviral E1 functions plus a second plasmid containing a gene of interest resulted in permanent cell lines expressing up to 30 pg/cell/day of a fully glycosylated and sialylated protein. Expression of the gene of interest is very stable for more than 90 passages and, importantly, was achieved in the absence of any antibiotic selection.ConclusionWe describe an improved method for developing high protein expressing stable human cell lines. These cell lines are of non-tumor origin, they are immortalized by a function not oncogenic in human and they are from an ethically accepted and easily accessible cell source. Since the cell can be easily adapted to growth in serum-free and chemically defined medium they fulfill the requirements of biopharmaceutical production processes.

High cell density cultivations by alternating tangential flow (ATF) perfusion for influenza A virus production using suspension cells

High cell densities in animal cell culture can be obtained by continuous perfusion of fresh culture medium across hollow fiber membranes that retain the cells. Careful selection of the membrane type and cut-off allows to control accumulation of target molecules and removal of low molecular weight compounds. In this report, perfusion with the scalable ATF (alternating tangential filtration, Refine Technology) system was evaluated for two suspension cell lines, the avian cell line AGE1.CR and the human cell line CAP. Both were cultivated in chemically defined media optimized for batch cell growth in a 1L stirred tank bioreactor connected to the smallest ATF unit (ATF2) and infected with cell line-adapted human influenza A virus (A/PR/8/34 (H1N1), typical diameter: 80-100 nm). At concentrations of about 25 million cells/mL three different membrane cut-offs (50 kDa, 0.2 μm and 0.5 μm) were tested and compared to batch cultivations performed at 5 million cells/mL. For medium and large cut-offs no cell-density effect could be observed with cell-specific virus yields of 1428-1708 virions/AGE1.CR cell (infected with moi 0.001) and 1883-4086 virions/CAP cell (moi of 0.025) compared to 1292 virions/AGE1.CR cell and 3883 virions/CAP cell in batch cultures. Even at a concentration of 48 million AGE1.CR cells/mL (cut-off: 0.2 μm) a cell-specific yield of 1266 virions/cell was reached. Only for the small cut-off (50 kDa) used with AGE1.CR cells a decrease in cell-specific yield was measured with 518 virions/cell. Surprisingly, the ratio of infectious to total virions seemed to be increased in ATF compared to batch cultures. AGE1.CR cell-derived virus particles were present in the permeate (0.2 and 0.5 μm cut-off), whereas CAP cell-derived virions were not, suggesting possible differences in morphology, aggregation or membrane properties of the virions released by the two cell lines. To our knowledge, this is the first study that illustrates the potential of ATF-based perfusion of chemically defined media across cell-retaining membranes for production of an influenza A vaccine.

CTLA4Ig delivered by high-capacity adenoviral vector induces stable expression of dystrophin in mdx mouse muscle.

Adenoviral (Ad) vector-mediated gene delivery of normal, full-length dystrophin to skeletal muscle provides a promising strategy for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), an X-linked recessive, dystrophin-deficient muscle disease. Studies in animal models suggest that successful DMD gene therapy by Ad vector-mediated gene transfer would be precluded by cellular and humoral immune responses induced by vector capsid and transgene proteins. To address the immunity induced by Ad vector-mediated dystrophin gene delivery to dystrophic muscle, we developed high-capacity adenoviral (HC-Ad) vectors expressing mouse dystrophin driven by the muscle creatine kinase promoter (AdmDys) and mCTLA4Ig (AdmCTLA4Ig) individually, or together from one vector (AdmCTLA4Ig/mDys). We found stable expression of dystrophin protein in the tibialis anterior muscles of mdx mice, coinjected with AdmCTLA4Ig and AdmDys, or injected alone with AdmCTLA4Ig/mDys, whereas the expression of dystrophin protein in the control group coinjected with AdmDys and an empty vector decreased by at least 50% between 2 and 8 weeks after administration. Additionally, we observed reductions in Ad vector-induced Th1 and Th2 cytokines, Ad vector-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte activation and neutralizing anti-Ad antibodies in both experimental groups that received a mCTLA4Ig-expressing vector as compared to the control group. This study demonstrates that the coexpression of mCTLA4Ig and dystrophin in skeletal muscle provided by HC-Ad vector-mediated gene transfer can provide stable expression of dystrophin in immunocompetent, adult mdx mouse muscle and applies a potentially powerful strategy to overcome adaptive immunity induced by Ad vector-mediated dystrophin gene delivery toward the ultimate goal of treatment for DMD.

Improving volumetric productivity of a stable human CAP cell line by bioprocess optimization

Background For the production of recombinant proteins, a human cell-derived expression technology can offer significant advantages with respect to protein quality, serum halflife and safety. High volumetric productivity with firstclass quality is the ultimate ambition during process development. CEVEC’s proprietary expression system based on human amniocytes offers significant advantages for the production of complex human proteins and antibodies. The key benefits are the stable and high expression of recombinant proteins with human type posttranslational modifications, the robust growth behaviour with competitive high cell densities and the easy handling in serum free suspension. CAP cells meet all regulatory requirements, they are of non-tumour origin and from an ethically accepted source. In order to test the performance of CAP cells for the production of very complex proteins, stable C1-inhibitor expressing CAP cells were developed. C1-inhibitor is a serine protease inhibitor (serpin) and one of the most heavily glycosylated plasma proteins bearing numerous complex Nand O-glycans.