Xbp1-based engineering of secretory capacity enhances the productivity of Chinese hamster ovary cells

A variety of successful transcription and translation engineering strategies implemented during the past decade have driven the specific productivity of mammalian cells to an apparent limit. Restricted post-translation competence has since been considered the major bottleneck preventing mammalian cells from fully exploiting their physiologic production capacity in a biopharmaceutical manufacturing scenario. Through ectopic expression of the human transcription factor Xbp1 (X-box-binding-protein 1), evolved to manage plasma cell differentiation and coordinate the unfolded protein response, we have specifically expanded the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi of transgenic Chinese hamster ovary (CHO-K1)-derived cell lines with a resulting increase in overall production capacity. Xbp-1-based engineering of secretory bottlenecks was compatible with a variety of different promoter–product gene configurations suggesting that Xbp-1 induces generic production increases in CHO-K1 cell derivatives. Secretion engineering, illustrated here by Xbp1-based reprogramming of the post-translational processing machinery, provides a first insight into mastering a major system bottleneck which impacts biopharmaceutical manufacturing of secreted protein therapeutics.