Novartis Ag

Sandrine Romand

Holger Laux

David Jonathan Glass

Thomas Jostock

Mara Fornaro

Ursula Bodendorf

The present application pertains inter alia to an isolated vertebrate cell suitable for recombinant expression of a polypeptide of interest, wherein the vertebrate cell is altered to impair the function of the endogenous protease matriptase and wherein the cell comprises at least one heterologous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide of interest and wherein the polypeptide of interest is secreted by the cell. It was found that using respective vertebrate cells for producing a recombinant polypeptide of interest significantly reduces clipping of the polypeptide of interest that is secreted into the cell culture medium. Also provided are improved production and screening methods.

Vertebrate cells and methods for recombinantly expressing a polypeptide of interest

The invention relates to methods for the production of therapeutic proteins in mammalian cells. In one embodiment, the method comprises producing a therapeutic protein such as IGF-1 in a mammalian cell endogenously expressing a cognate receptor of said recombinant therapeutic protein and wherein binding of said therapeutic protein to said cognate receptor results in a low titer of the therapeutic protein, the method comprising with a mammalian cell being deficient in the expression of the cognate receptor of said therapeutic protein and being transformed with an expression vector comprising a nucleic acid molecule encoding the therapeutic protein: a. Cultivating said cell under conditions allowing the expression of the therapeutic protein; and b. Harvesting the therapeutic protein from the mammalian cell cultivated in step a, wherein said mammalian cell produces at least 1.5 fold more therapeutic protein than a cell in which the expression of the cognate receptor has not been so modified.

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Seyssinet-Pariset, France

Sandrine Romand