Objectives: To evaluate the characteristics of a novel human cell line, F2N78, including growth performance, physicochemical properties, and biological activity via direct comparison with CHO cells.
Results: The culture performance and physicochemical properties of antibodies produced from F2N78 and CHO cells were compared. For charge variants, antibodies produced from F2N78 cells contained a greater acidic charge variants than CHO cells. Regarding main glycoforms, degree of galactosylation was 52% in CT-A produced from F2N78 cells compared to CHO cells (37%). For sialic acid forms, α-2,6-linked sialic acid and N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) residues were observed in antibodies produced from F2N78 cells. In contrast, only α-2,3 linked sialic acid forms were detected in antibodies produced from CHO cells, and NANA and N-glycolylneuraminic acid were detected. Hybrid structure and bisecting structure were only observed in F2N78 cells.
Conclusions: F2N78 cells stably produced antibodies with human specific N-glycan. The novel expression system based on human cells may facilitate the development of an alternative host cell for production of recombinant proteins.
Keywords: CHO cells; Charge variants; F2N78 cells; Glycan structure; Glycoform; Human cells.