Abstract
Animal cell-based expression platforms enable the production of complex biomolecules such as recombinant proteins and viral vectors. Although most biotherapeutics are produced in animal cell lines, production in human cell lines is expanding. One important advantage of using human cell lines is the increased potential that the resulting biotherapeutics would carry more “human-like” post-translational modifications. Among the human cell lines, HEK293 is widely utilized due to its high transfectivity, rapid growth rate, and ability to grow in a serum-free, suspension culture. In this review, we discuss the use of HEK293 cells and its subtypes in the production of biotherapeutics. We also compare their usage against other commonly used host cell lines in each category of biotherapeutics and summarise the factors influencing the choice of host cell lines used.
Highlights
Production of complex biopharmaceutical products rely heavily on mammalian cell lines, with most therapeutic biopharmaceuticals produced in the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells (Lalonde and Durocher, 2017)
Some recombinant proteins are made in HEK293 due to requirements in posttranslational modifications (PTMs) which cannot be met in CHO, and most therapeutic viral vectors are produced in HEK293
Advancements in cell line developments would see more HEK293 clones or derivatives developed for growth in a serum-free suspension medium for high-titer viral vector production
Summary
Production of complex biopharmaceutical products rely heavily on mammalian cell lines, with most therapeutic biopharmaceuticals produced in the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells (Lalonde and Durocher, 2017). The use of mammalian production cells enables biologics with complex posttranslational modifications (PTMs) to be produced. Complex biologics such as antibodies, growth and clotting factors require complex PTMs to ensure product stability and potency. Six are cell and gene therapies (Mullard, 2016, Mullard, 2017; Mullard, 2018; Mullard, 2019; Mullard, 2020; Mullard, 2021) where the HEK293 cell line or its derivatives were used in the production of viral vectors. With the increasing number of cell and gene therapies being developed (Rittié et al, 2019; Lapteva et al, 2020), we will see a corresponding growth in the use of HEK293 in viral vector production. HEK293-T is a derivative of the HEK293 cell line, Biotherapeutic Production in HEK293
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