Optimization of helper protein expression in recombinant CHO cells.

The results obtained so far show that the CHO cell line is indeed not optimally equipped to assemble human antibodies. The lack of regulation of GRP78/BiP and the low concentration of PDI call for genetic modification of their expression. It should therefore be tested whether the overexpression of GRP78/BiP will result in a relative increase in the amount of correctly assembled and active antibody secreted and whether an increase in PDI might result in faster processing and therefore higher production rates. Both of these and also their combination could result in an increased yield of active antibody. A successfull modification of helper protein expression in an antibody producing CHO cell line could ultimately lead to an optimized CHO cell line to be used in future antibody gene transfection studies which could be of great benefit for the industrial utilization of such cell lines.