High-level expression of a codon optimized recombinant dust mite allergen, Blo t 5, in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Blo t 5 is a major allergen from house dust mite Blomia tropicalis. Purification of native Blo t 5 (nBlo t 5) from whole dust mite extract is tedious and gave low yield. In this study, we demonstrated that codon optimization facilitated high-level expression of Blo t 5 in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells and thus allows production of sufficient recombinant cBlo t 5 for specific immunotherapy. A codon optimized Blo t 5 gene was synthesized by PCR and the codon optimized or wild-type Blo t 5 gene in pcDNA3.0 was transfected into CHO-K1 cells and stably selected with Geneticin (G418). Western-immunoblot analysis of spent culture media detected a positive band at 14kDa for the codon optimized but not wild-type gene transfectants. In addition, a stable CHO-K1 clone produced up to 13 mg/L of the cBlo t 5 protein having a high correlation of human IgE reactivities and allergenicity to the native Blo t 5, thus indicating proper conformation of this recombinant form.