Integra culture vessel boosts MAb production

A range of cell culture vessels developed by Switzerland's Integra Biosciences promises to increase production yields in laboratories making monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins, according to the firm.

The CELLine system comes in two formats, including a small version (CL 350) suitable for laboratory work and a larger one (CL 1000) that can handle small production runs. The latter is also suitable for preparing cells for seeding large-scale production reactors, according to Integra.

The design of the bioreacter vessel is such that nutrients can be added from the top of the container while the cells are kept oxygenated from below, a feature that makes it easier to maintain long-term cultures of fragile cells. This is achieved through the use of semi-permeable membranes that separate the culture chamber from the culture medium compartment and make it easier to overcome traditional growth limitations brought about by a lack of nutrients or the accumulation of metabolic waste.

Integra has conducted comparative studies with batch culture in which the CELLine system has been shown to require 90 per cent less material and 80 per cent less serum when used for MAb production. These studies indicated that there is a 70 per cent reduction in the time needed to prepare and maintain the culture, with an overall reduction in costs of 40 per cent. Meanwhile, the yield of MAbs from the CELLine system was improved 50- to 100-fold.

"Using the CELLine system concentrations of 1 to 4 mg/ml leading to yields of 200mg/month with a single bioreactor are routinely achievable. This equates to over 100 x 175 ml culture flasks run in batch mode,"​ said the company​.