SAFC launches new CHO lines for protein drug developers
The new line is the latest addition to the portfolio of modified Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells developed using SAFC’s zinc-finger nuclease (ZFN) technology and lacks the gene encoding MGAT-1, which is a key enzyme involved in protein glycosylation.
Cell lines that lack the MGAT-1 enzyme means make proteins that have a uniform N-glycan profile, because the synthesis pathway is halted before later steps that introduce the variations that make crystallography studies of glycosylated proteins a challenge according to SAFC.
“A knockout of the MGAT1 gene function results in early termination of the N-glycan pathway and enables the expression of recombinant proteins with homogeneous high Man5 glycan profiles. This is useful for protein crystallography studies as well as for the expression of biotherapeutics that target mannose receptors. “
SAFC also rolled out another new CHO variation.
The second knockout cell line – which was made using the ZFN technology - make proteins that do not contain galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose or N-Glycolylneuraminic acid, which are both known to cause allergic reactions.
Zinc-finger business
The news follows just a few weeks after licensed its ZFN technology to contract services firm Horizon Discovery. At the time Horizon CEO Darrin Disley told BioPharma-Reporter.com that: "Both [Horizon's own] rAAV and nuclease-based technologies have their strengths and limitations, and so are bestapplied in diferent situations."
