Short hairpin RNA targeted to dihydrofolate reductase enhances the immunoglobulin G expression in gene-amplified stable Chinese hamster ovary cells

The dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr)/methotrexate (MTX) selection is a common method to conduct gene amplification in stable clones of Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. We previously reported the use of a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) vector targeted to the dhfr gene resulted in improving the intracellular antigen expression in gene-amplified stable CHO cells [Hong, W.W., Wu, S.C., 2007. A novel RNA silencing vector to improve antigen expression and stability in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Vaccine 25 (20), 4103–4111]. Here we investigated the use of the dhfr-targeted shRNA vector for immunoglobulin G (IgG) expression in gene-amplified stable CHO cells. With the use of the dhfr-targeted shRNA vector, the gene-amplified CHO/dhFr− cells were found to increase IgG expression at 1.0 μM MTX by more than 100% and to improve the genomic stability of IgG expression in MTX-free cultures by approximately 30%. The use of the dhfr-targeted shRNA vector can enhance the IgG expression in the gene-amplified stable CHO cells and uphold the IgG expression in MTX-free cultures. Utilizing the dhfr-targeted shRNA vector may provide an alternative way to maneuver CHO cell factories for IgG production in cultures.