This invention relates to devices and methods for growing cells, processing cells, and dialyzing samples.
Devices integrating semi-permeable membranes have a variety of uses in the cell culture field. Their uses include high-density cell culture, co-culture, cell infection, and sample dialysis. However, existing devices have deficiencies that limit their efficiency and usefulness.
Static membrane-based devices for high-density cell culture have been proposed and commercialized. The CELLine™ products from Integra Biosciences, related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,693,537 (Wilson et al.), are commercialized devices are in the form of a flask, separated into two compartments by way of a 10,000 molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) semi-permeable dialysis membrane. They are advantageous for small-scale production because they are easy to use. However, these devices have scale up inefficiencies because they utilize a dialysis membrane in sheet form. To increase the number of cells present, the dialysis membrane must increase in surface area. Since the membrane is in sheet form, the footprint of the device must get proportionally larger. Devices with large footprints use incubator space inefficiently. Furthermore, as dialysis membranes get larger in surface area, the probability of rupture increases. Another deficiency is the limited height at which medium resides in the devices, requiring an increase in device footprint as more medium is required to feed the increased quantity of cells residing in the devices. U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,124 (Vogler) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,792 (Bader) also introduce compartmentalized gas permeable devices. Vogler '124 discloses a dialysis membrane for compartmentalization, while Bader '792 relies upon a microporous membrane. Unfortunately, they suffer the same scale up limitations as the CELLine™ products.
Attempts have been made to improve the roller bottle by compartmentalizing the device with a semi-permeable membrane. However, each attempt has deficiencies, and little commercial impact in the market has been achieved. Deficiencies include the requirement of non-standard roller mechanisms, inability to interface with pipettes, incompatibility with common materials for adherent culture, and scale up limitations due to the limited amount of medium that can reside in the devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,617 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,211 (Falkenberg et al.) describe a gas permeable roller bottle compartmentalized by a dialysis membrane. By separating the cells and cell-secreted products from the nutrient medium by way of the dialysis membrane, it is capable of increasing cell and cell-secreted product density. The maximum medium volume that can be accommodated by the bottle is 360 ml, of which 60 ml resides in the cell compartment and 300 ml in the nutrient compartment. Its scale up potential is limited by the 360 ml medium capacity, which leads to an excessive number of devices for scale up. Also, it is not suitable for adherent culture because it makes no provision for attachment surface area. Furthermore, the dialysis membrane can only increase in surface area as the bottle diameter increases, since it is perpendicular to the bottle axis of rotation. This restricts mass transfer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,686,301 (Falkenberg et al.) describes an improved version of the devices defined in U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,617 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,211. A feature in the form of collapsible sheathing that prevents damage by internal pressurization is disclosed. However, no improvement in the volume of medium that can reside in the device is made. Also, the limited dialysis membrane surface area is not addressed. Furthermore, it remains unsuitable for adherent culture.
Vivascience Sartorius Group sells a product called the MiniPERM that is related to the Falkenberg et al. patents. The maximum cell compartment module is 50 ml and the maximum nutrient module is 400 ml. Thus, the maximum volume of medium that can reside in the commercial device is only 450 ml. The small size of the commercial device, the need for custom rolling equipment, the inability to be used with traditional laboratory pipettes, the potential for cell shear, the inability to allow microscopic viewing of cells, and the lack of suitability for adherent culture limits its value as an alternative to the traditional bottle.
The device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,945 (Nagels et al.) attempts to improve the MiniPERM device by improving its capacity to culture adherent cells. One cell attachment matrix is provided in the cell culture compartment at the inner face of the gas permeable membrane. Although adherent culture is possible, it only offers a small surface for adherent cells relative to the traditional bottle. Also, microscopic assessment of cell confluence and morphology is not accommodated.
Co-culture applications are typically conducted in small devices like the Transwell® device from Corning. These devices are for very small-scale culture only. U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,705 (Mussi et al.) attempts to provide a large scale co-culture alternative by use of a compartmentalized roller bottle. The bottle is compartmentalized by way of two coaxial cylindrical containers of similar length, the inner container being centered within the exterior receptacle. A microporous membrane physically separates the cell population residing within the inner container from the cell population residing in the exterior receptacle. There is no discussion or guidance for how to prevent the inner container from causing disturbances in the inoculum residing in the exterior receptacle. On the contrary, a recommended distance D between containers of 0.010 inches to about 0.040 inches dictates that the microporous membrane will move through liquid residing in the exterior receptacle. Because the recommended inoculation volume of a traditional roller bottle is 170 to 255 ml, but contact with the microporous membrane occurs at about 15 ml to 80 ml depending on the distance D, disturbance of the inoculum by the microporous membrane is virtually assured. Unfortunately, cells have a difficult time seeding normally when there are disturbances to the medium in which they reside because their specific gravity is typically nearly that of the medium. Thus, disturbance to the inoculum as the compartmentalized roller bottle rotates can prevent cells from properly gravitating to the inside surface of the exterior receptacle. Support members, preferably extending from a first end to a second end of the inner container are used to physically create the distance D, and will further disturb the inoculum. Thus, although the roller bottle for co-culture attempts to provide a good alternative to the Transwell® device, its geometry interferes with a normal inoculation process.
The use of devices, compartmentalized by a microporous membrane, for increasing the frequency of contact between vectors and stationary target cells has been described by U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,400 (Palsson et al.). This approach relies on a microporous membrane of 0.1 microns to about 2.0 microns to retain cells in one compartment, while vectors move past the trapped cells and through the microporous membrane. This increases the amount of contact between vectors and cells relative to methods that rely on Brownian motion and improved infectivity rates. To further increase the rate of infectivity, vectors can be recycled back into the compartment containing cells by the use of a pump. Unfortunately, the use of pumps adds complexity to the process.
Devices that rely upon dialysis membrane are commonly used to alter the molecular composition of samples residing in them. Placing the sample in a container that is comprised of a dialysis membrane, and immersing the container in a second container holding a dialysate solution allows control over the final composition of the solution. Two styles of products dominate the market. The first style consists of dialysis tubing, such as that marketed by Spectrum Labs and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,324,428 (Flaherty) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,783,075 (Eddleman et al.). Disadvantageous membrane surface area to sample volume ratio are inherent. The second style is a cartridge format marketed by Pierce Chemical under the trade name Slide-A-Lyzer® (U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,741—Clark). It requires the use of a syringe and needle, which is not a preferred liquid handling method compared to pipettes. It is also limited in size, about a 10 ml sample volume, because it requires the membrane to be flat. Thus, it quickly outgrows typical dialysate containers. Furthermore, unsupported sheet membranes are more likely to break as they get larger and larger.
In summary, a variety of devices compartmentalized by various semi-permeable membranes are used in high-density cell culture, co-culture, cell processing, and sample dialysis applications. However, these membrane-based devices have inherent deficiencies that limit their efficiency and usefulness. Membrane based devices that seek to create high-density cell culture do not provide geometry that is suitable for efficient scale up. The attempt to provide scaled up co-culture in a membrane based roller bottle fails to allow cells to gravitate in the same manner as the Transwell® device or the traditional roller bottle. The use of membrane-based flow through devices to increase the rate of infectivity is complicated by the need for pumps when vectors are recycled. For sample dialysis, dialysis tubing provides a poor surface area to sample volume ratio, and Slide-A-Lyzer® dialysis cartridges require the use of needles. Improved devices that overcome these deficiencies are needed.
It is an object of the present invention to disclose multiple formats for a device compartmentalized by a semi-permeable membrane, that are superior to previous compartmentalized cell culture, co-culture, cell processing, and laboratory sample dialysis devices. This compartmentalized device can be configured to allow high-density cell culture while rolling or standing still, to allow co-culture without disruption of inoculum, to physically move liquid from one compartment to the other, and to perform more efficient dialysis of laboratory samples.
According to one embodiment of the invention, a basal medium compartment and a cell culture compartment are separated by a semi-permeable membrane to create an improved high-density cell culture device. It can be configured to improve upon prior high-density roller bottles in many ways that include holding more medium, allowing the use of pipettes, letting adherent cells attach just as they do in traditional roller bottles, allowing microscopic viewing just as is done in traditional roller bottles, and functioning on standard roller racks. The benefits of the novel compartmentalized device include the ability to increase the concentration of cells and cell-secreted products, allow a longer duration of time between feeding periods, minimize the amount of wasted space inherent to traditional roller bottles, without losing the desired features inherent to the traditional bottle such as ease of use, microscopic evaluation, pipette access, and compatibility with standard roller racks. This embodiment can also be configured to more efficiently dialyze laboratory samples than currently used laboratory dialysis tubing or cartridges.
According to another embodiment of the invention, an improved large-scale co-culture device is created. It improves upon prior art by creating geometric relationships between the basal medium compartment and the cell culture compartment that retain the desired attributes of a traditional roller bottle, such as uniform cell seeding, microscopic evaluation, pipette access, and compatibility with standard roller racks.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, an improved compartmentalized device is created that is capable of functioning when rolling or standing. Advantages of this novel compartmentalized cell culture device include the ability to function when rolled or unrolled. When in the unrolled position, it improves upon prior unrolled compartmentalized devices by allowing configurations that include a higher semi-permeable membrane surface area to medium volume, more medium height, and improved scale up efficiency.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, liquid is continuously moved from one compartment to the other while the device rolls. A suspended compartment is fabricated in part with a semi-permeable membrane, capable of passing liquid. The suspended compartment remains stationary as a surrounding compartment rotates about it. A physical feature collects medium from the surrounding compartment, and deposits it to the suspended compartment by the rolling action of the bottle. Medium is returned to the surrounding compartment by passing through the semi-permeable membrane.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a suspended compartment resides in the device. The device is rolled and configured to impart motion to the suspended compartment to simulate the action of a shaker plate.
The characteristics of semi-permeable membrane 25 determine what is allowed to pass between basal medium 30 and cell culture medium 35, and what is retained in cell culture compartment 20. Many sources of information are available that describe what characteristics of semi-permeable membrane 25 are desirable for a particular cell culture application. For example, the CELLine™ products rely upon a 10,000 MWCO regenerated cellulose acetate membrane, which has proved very effective in high-density monoclonal antibody production. In cases where co-culture is desired, the semi-permeable membrane can act to separate the cells from physical contact, but allow secreted products to travel back and forth across the semi-permeable membrane. Micorporous membranes are typically used for co-culture applications. Sources of information that can be used to provide guidance in the selection of an appropriate semi-permeable membrane include Wilson et al. '537, Vogler '124, Bader '792, Mussi et al. '705, Millipore (Billerica, Mass.), Spectrum Laboratories Inc. (Rancho Dominguez, Calif.), and Biovest International (Coon Rapids, Minn.).
Device housing 40 can be any biocompatible material. In the preferred embodiment, it is rigid and optically clear. Polystyrene is a common material used for flasks and roller bottles. If the device housing is made of polystyrene, it can exhibit the same attachment characteristics of traditional devices. This can be helpful when scientists are scaling a culture out of traditional flasks and roller bottles into the compartmentalized device. In the preferred embodiment, the device housing is cylindrical to facilitate rolling. However, other shapes are possible. For example, the shape described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,419 (Meder) can easily be integrated into the design. Those skilled in the art will recognize that shapes for the device housing that are not cylindrical can be adapted for a roller rack by attaching a cylindrical housing to the non cylindrical device housing. Preferably, basal medium compartment conforms to the shape of the device housing so that the distance from the semi-permeable membrane to the device housing is uniform about its perimeter.
Although those skilled in the art will recognize there are many ways to structure the compartmentalized device as a closed system by way of septums, sterile tubing connections, and the like. However, accommodating the use of a pipette is advantageous when a there is a desire to retain the simplicity of traditional devices.
The basal medium compartment has the role of holding enough basal medium to provide an appropriate source of substrates and an appropriate sink for waste products. Thus, a primary design consideration is the amount of medium required for a given cell culture application. Increasing the volume of the basal medium can reduce feeding frequency relative to traditional devices. For example, if 300 ml of basal medium residing in a traditional roller bottle supports 300×106 cells and needs to be exchanged every day, putting 600 ml of basal medium in the basal medium compartment can reduce the feeding schedule to every two days. Placing the cells and a small volume of cell culture medium in the cell culture compartment, and placing a relatively large volume of medium in the basal medium compartment can increase cell density. For example, if 300×106 cells typically reside in 300 ml of medium in a traditional roller bottle, placing cells and 10 ml of cell culture medium in the cell culture compartment, and 300 ml of basal medium in the basal medium compartment will increase cell density by about 30-fold without a change in the feeding schedule.
One design consideration for the basal medium compartment is related to hydrostatic pressure differential across the semi-permeable membrane. When the height of basal medium exceeds the height of cell culture medium, as shown for example in
The height of basal medium can be controlled by the geometry of the basal medium compartment. For a given volume of medium, simply structuring the basal medium compartment to increase in length will reduce the height of the medium. Thus, hydrostatic pressure differential can be reduced by the geometry of the basal medium compartment.
Movement of liquid across the semi-permeable membrane can also occur when the protein concentration of the cell culture medium is increased relative to the basal medium, as may be the case when cells and cell-secreted products reside at high-density. High osmolarity of the cell culture medium will then draw liquid from the basal medium across the semi-permeable membrane. This is not uncommon with commercial devices that are compartmentalized by way of a dialysis membrane. Protocols can be adjusted to minimize any detrimental effect on the culture. For example, in applications where serum resides in the cell culture medium, but not in the basal medium, the CELLine™ product literature suggests increasing the concentration of serum by about 5% over that used in traditional devices. In this manner, the dilution of serum by liquid transfer across the dialysis membrane will not bring the concentration below that which the cells experienced as they were scaled up from cryopreservation.
Preferably, the basal medium compartment is structured in a manner that makes the most effective use of the semi-permeable membrane. That can be achieved by configuring the basal medium compartment to rotate as the compartmentalized device rotates. Doing so allows the semi-permeable membrane to become wetted across its entire surface area, and can increase mass transfer between the basal medium and the cell culture medium. In the case of co-culture, where cells may be attached to the semi-permeable membrane, doing so increases the surface area for cells to reside upon and allows attached cells to experience gas exchange in a similar manner as the traditional roller bottle.
Many design approaches are possible to ensure the basal medium compartment rotates as the compartmentalized device rotates, as those skilled in the art will recognize. The basal medium compartment can rotate in the same direction of the device housing, or in the opposite direction. For example, physically connecting the basal medium compartment to the device housing allows it to rotate in the same direction. The physical connecting points should be selected, and configured, to prevent interference with the withdrawal of liquid from the cell culture compartment. Allowing the basal medium compartment to rotate in the opposite direction of the device housing can be achieved by a variety of methods, as those skilled in the art will recognize. In this case, a cylindrically shaped basal medium compartment and device housing are preferred. Whether or not the basal medium compartment is physically attached to the device housing, opposite rotation can be attained just from the frictional force between the basal medium compartment and the device housing. Modifying the surface finish at the contact points between the basal medium compartment and the device housing can alter friction. A geared interface between the basal medium compartment and the device housing is another way of achieving opposing rotation. Care should be taken that the interface does not prevent cell culture medium from moving freely about the length of the cell culture compartment. If opposing rotation is desired with the basal medium compartment physically connected to the bottle housing, any linkage that allows the basal medium compartment to rotate in the opposite direction of the device housing will suffice. For example, a frictionless rotary union is one option.
Another design consideration for the basal medium compartment is related to its physical contact with the cell culture medium in the cell culture compartment. Physical contact can cause perturbations in the cell culture medium and affect the manner in which adherent cells deposit onto the device housing, and can cause cell shear in suspension cell culture applications. Examples of alternative geometries, and the contact each makes with inoculum and cell culture medium, are shown in
Inoculum makes contact with the basal medium compartment of each configuration in a different manner. In
Moving basal medium compartment 15C into the lowered position can be achieved in any number of ways, as those skilled in the art of cell culture device design and mechanical engineering will recognized. A wide variety of mechanisms are possible. One technique is to use the weight of the basal medium to drive the basal medium compartment into the lowered position, as shown in
Structuring the basal medium compartment so that basal medium can reside within it can be achieved in a number of ways. If the height of basal medium resides below the height of the basal medium compartment access port, the medium compartment access port can merely be an open port. However, if it is desirable for basal medium to reside at a height that is greater than the basal medium compartment access port, a seal is needed to prevent basal medium from spilling into the cell culture compartment.
When the basal medium compartment is configured with a basal medium access port cover, pressure can build up in the basal medium compartment during shipping or during use. In shipping, gas expands due to temperature changes and elevation changes commonly experienced in ground or air transport. In use, medium can off gas due to temperature changes, and the increased gas volume can pressurize the basal medium compartment. If the type of semi-permeable membrane that is integrated into the basal medium compartment does not have enough compliance, a pressure increase can damage the basal medium compartment integrity. Those skilled in the art will recognize that there are many ways of venting the basal medium compartment as pressure rises. For example, an umbrella check valve or poppet valve can be integrated into the basal medium compartment.
When a pipette is used to remove medium from the basal medium compartment, orienting the compartmentalized device at an angle that is closer to horizontal than vertical will make it more convenient to handle in a flow hood. One method of accessing the low point of the basal medium compartment, when the compartmentalized device is oriented at an angle that is closer to horizontal than vertical, is to create a conduit within the basal medium compartment.
The semi-permeable membrane should be secured to the basal medium compartment in a liquid tight manner.
Collecting liquid from the cell culture compartment can be achieved in a variety of ways.
In the case where the compartmentalized device is not a closed system, access port(s) into the basal medium compartment and/or the cell culture compartment can be covered by a cap that has the same function as that of a traditional roller bottle. In the loosened position, it allows gas exchange and prevents contamination. In the closed position, it can trap gas, such as is the case when 5% CO2 environment resides within the cell culture compartment, but the compartmentalized device is operated in a warm room. If the compartmentalized device is structured as a closed system, it can either be periodically sparged with gas to provide oxygen and pH control, or at least a portion of device housing can be gas permeable so that gas exchange is adequate to maintain the culture. Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/961,814 provides a good reference for gas permeable device housings.
For adherent cell culture, the surface area within the compartmentalized device for cells to attach to can be increased by any methods known to those skilled in the art. Sources for guidance include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,941,661, 4,317,886, 4,824,787, 4,829,004, 4,912,058, or 6,130,080.
In the event that additional mixing of the cell culture medium is desired, such as may be the case when the volume of cell culture medium is very small, the location of the semi-permeable membrane is distant from portions of the cell culture medium, and/or for any other reason, that can be achieved.
The compartmentalized device can also be used to provide a more efficient device for dialysis of laboratory samples.
The compartmentalized device can be configured to function without rolling. For example, this may be advantageous when it is desired to reduce cell shear, or when rolling equipment is not available.
When functioning in the unrolled position, cells come to reside in proximity of gas permeable bottom 150. Cell culture medium 35 is in communication with basal medium 30 by way of semi-permeable membrane 25D. Controlling the volume of cell culture medium 35 can be achieved by the distance that basal medium compartment 15I resides from gas permeable bottom 150 and from device housing 40. As the distance becomes smaller, for any given height of cell culture medium, the volume is reduced thereby increasing concentration. The ability to gain advantage by placing medium at heights beyond conventional wisdom is described in Co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 10/961,814.
Another advantage of this configuration is the ability to balance hydrostatic pressure across the semi-permeable membrane. It is easy to construct a configuration with a high ratio of the volume of basal medium to the volume of cell culture medium, yet a small differential in height between the basal medium and the cell culture medium. Thus, the concentration advantages and feeding frequency advantages remain present, while the hydrostatic driving force across the semi-permeable membrane is reduced. As shown in
Depending on the type of material used for the semi-permeable membrane and whether or not the compartmentalized device is rolled, structural support about the exterior of the semi-permeable membrane may be desired. For example, if the semi-permeable membrane bulges and firmly presses against the device housing, cell culture medium may be physically blocked or impeded from moving to about the perimeter of the semi-permeable membrane. Keeping the semi-permeable membrane from making detrimental physical contact with the device housing can be achieved in any number of ways including the use of an open weave mesh. If structural support is provided about the exterior of the semi-permeable membrane, the mesh or other physical structure should allow as much cell culture medium contact with the semi-permeable membrane as possible while allowing movement of the cell culture medium about the surface of the semi-permeable membrane. Prior to the use of structural support, mass transfer evaluation should be conducted to determine the effect of any given support configuration relative to no support. The rate of glucose transfer from the basal medium compartment into the cell culture compartment is one way of measuring the effect of the structural support upon mass transfer. In the case of hydrophilic membranes such as regenerated cellulose, transfer may be adequate without structural support.
This configuration can be very helpful for a variety of applications. A main attribute is the ability to move liquid from one compartment to the next on a continuous basis without the need for pumps. For example, if hematopoietic cells are to be transduced, moving vectors continuously past them creates a higher incidence of contact than simple Brownian motion. Hematopoietic cells can be placed in the suspended compartment, and the characteristics of the semi-permeable can be selected to retain the cells in the suspended compartment, but let medium and vectors pass. When vectors are introduced into the suspended compartment by the scoop, they make their way toward the surrounding compartment by gravity, contacting the hematopoietic cells. Vectors that do not transduce a hematopoietic cell, and pass to the surrounding compartment are then returned to the suspended compartment by the scoop and have another chance to transduce the cell. In this case it is important that the medium residing in the suspended compartment does not drain completely, which would cause the cells to die.
Other examples for which this configuration could be useful include the desire to perfuse each compartment with cell-secreted product, or any exogenous factors, or for co-culture. In this case, cells can be located in the suspended compartment and the surrounding compartment. Liquid surrounding the cells is constantly moved from the surrounding compartment to the suspended compartment, and back again.
In many applications with traditional culture devices, they are placed upon shaker plates. When a compartmentalized device is configured with a suspended compartment that remains in position as the device housing rotates about it, it can create a similar action as a shaker plate.
In the case where culture of cells upon a gas permeable membrane is desired, the configuration shown in
Evaluation of the Compartmentalized Device With Adherent Cells for Increased Cell Density and Reduction of Serum Use
Compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 were configured as shown in
Growth of an adherent CHO cell line, CHO-ACE005, was evaluated in six compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 relative to a traditional roller bottle. The capability to support the growth of cells at high density, and to reduce the use of serum was assessed. To assess growth of cells at high density in the compartmentalized devices, the medium volume to growth surface area ratio was reduced well below that of the traditional Corning® 490 cm2 roller bottle controls. The traditional Corning® 490 cm2 roller bottle controls contained 115 ml of medium, while each compartmentalized device test fixture 500 contained only 30 ml in cell culture compartment 520. Additional medium support, 85 ml, was provided by basal medium compartment 515. Thus, all test devices had 115 ml of total medium, but only 30 ml was in direct contact with cells in the compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 versus 115 ml in the traditional bottle.
Further benefits can be derived if the compartmentalized devices are capable of reducing the use of serum. To evaluate this potential benefit, all six compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 had 10% serum in cell culture compartment 520. Three compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 had 10% serum in basal medium compartment 515, and three compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 had no serum in the basal medium.
DMEM medium was used for all devices, supplemented with serum as described. All devices were rotated at 1 RPM at 37 C, 95% RH, and 5% CO2.
Adherent cells were rinsed with PBS and collected by two rounds of trypsinization (0.25% Trypsin, 1 mM EDTA.4Na). Cells were stained with trypan blue to determine viability and enumerated using a hemocytometer. Cell density, identified as “cells per ml” in Table E1, was calculated per ml of cell culture medium. Thus, the total quantity of cells recovered from each compartmentalized device test fixture was divided by 30 ml, while the total quantity of cells recovered from each roller bottle control was divided by 115 ml. All values were averaged and Table E1 summarizes the findings.
Table E1 clearly shows the capacity of the compartmentalized device to make cell culture more efficient. Despite over a 10-fold reduction in serum use, the number of viable cells cultured was not impeded. Furthermore, the concentration of cells in the medium was increased nearly 4-fold.
Evaluation of the Compartmentalized Device with Suspension Cells for Increased Antibody Density and Reduction of Serum Use
Four gamma-irradiated compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 were constructed as previously described in Example 1, and shown in
22×106 murine hybridoma cells secreting IgG monoclonal antibody were suspended in 25 ml of medium and were inoculated into each cell culture compartment 520, and 75 ml of medium was placed into each basal medium compartment 515. 22×106 murine hybridoma cells secreting IgG monoclonal antibody were suspended in 100 ml of medium and were inoculated into traditional Corning® 490 cm2 roller bottle controls. Glucose consumption was monitored daily. FBS serum concentration was 10% for the traditional Corning® 490 cm2 roller bottle controls and for all medium in two compartmentalized device test fixtures 500. However, two compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 contained FBS serum at 10% concentration in cell culture compartment 520, with no FBS serum in basal medium compartment 515. All devices were rotated at 1 RPM in ambient conditions of 37 C, 95% RH, and 5% CO2. Samples were collected from each cell culture compartment 520, and from the roller bottle controls every 5 days. ELISA was performed to determine antibody production. Results are shown in Tables E2.1 and E2.2.
Table E2.1 demonstrates that each compartmentalized device test fixture 500 generated at least a 16-fold increase IgG monoclonal antibody concentration relative to the traditional roller bottle controls.
Table E2.2 demonstrates that total amount of antibody produced in compartmentalized device test fixtures 500 (n=4) increased at least 52% compared to the traditional roller bottle controls (n=2, p<0.001 by unpaired t-test analysis). Also of importance, a 13-fold reduction in FBS serum use had no effect on the total amount of IgG produced (p<0.05). Furthermore, there quantity of glucose used per mg of antibody produced was reduced by at least 28%, suggesting a more efficient use of medium. In summary, the ability of the compartmentalized device to increase production, concentrate product can lead to substantial cost reductions in downstream processing. Furthermore, reduced use of expensive serum can cost reduce the culture process. Thus, the compartmentalized device is far superior to the traditional roller bottle.
Evaluation of the Compartmentalized Device With Suspension Cells for Increased Cell Density
Compartmentalized test devices were configured as shown in
Two compartmentalized test devices and a T-175 control flask were compared on the basis of cell density. Medium consisted of Hyclone media (cat#SH30382.02) supplemented with 10% Hyclone Fetal Bovine Serum and 1% Gibco Penicillin Streptomycin. Culture conditions were 37C, 95% R.H., and 5% CO2. All devices were rolled at 1 RPM. Each cell culture compartment 520 was inoculated with 25×106 murine hybridoma cells in 25 mls of medium. Each basal medium compartment 515 received 170 ml of medium. A T-175 control flask was inoculated with 25×106/ml murine hybridoma cells in 25 ml of the same medium.
All test devices were fed as needed to keep the cells viable. Table E3 shows maximum viable cells density, and maximum viable cells attained in each device.
The power of the compartmentalized device to increase cell density relative to the commonly used tissue culture flask was demonstrated. Cell density increased at least approximately 600%.
Evaluation of Unrolled Compartmentalized Devices With Suspension Cells for Increased Cell and Cell Secreted Protein Density
Tests were conducted to evaluate the capacity of the compartmentalized device to function in the unrolled state. Three configurations of unrolled compartmentalized devices were created, each with a different semi-permeable membrane surface area. These configurations were evaluated relative to the traditional T-175 flask. In a murine hybridoma application to obtain monoclonal antibody, a comparison was made with respect to cell density.
Two styles of compartmentalized test devices were configured in a similar manner as that described in
Murine hybridoma cells were cultured in Hyclone medium. Cell counts and viability were monitored made using standard hemocytometer and trypan blue exclusion methods. Each compartmentalized device was inoculated on “Day 0” with murine hybridoma cells. Table E4.1 shows the results.
These results clearly indicate the ability of the unrolled compartmentalized device to culture cells a much higher density than traditional culture devices such as the tissue culture flask. Importantly, increasing semi-permeable membrane surface area can yield additional culture capacity without increasing the footprint of the device. This allows more efficient use of space.
Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerous modifications can be made thereof without departing from the spirit. Therefore, it is not intended to limit the breadth of the invention to the embodiments illustrated and described. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be interpreted by the appended claims and their equivalents. Each publication, patent, patent application, and reference cited herein is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/519,676 filed Nov. 10, 2003, which is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
This invention was made in part with U.S. Government support under National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovative Research Grant 2 R44 HL065977-02 “Membrane Based Roller Bottle”. The U.S. Government may have certain rights in this invention.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60519676 | Nov 2003 | US |