Antibody-membrane switch (AMS) technology for facile cell line development

Generation of high-productivity cell lines remains a major bottleneck in therapeutic antibody development. Conventional cell line development often depends on gene amplification methodologies using dihydrofolate reductase or glutamine synthetase. Higher productivity is associated with an increased gene copy number. However, lack of selection pressure under the conditions of large-scale manufacturing leads to clonal instability. We have developed a novel method for cell line development, antibody-membrane switch (AMS) technology, that does not rely on gene amplification. This fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)-based, high-throughput method is facilitated by cell-surface antibody expression to rapidly and efficiently isolate high-producing cells. The switch between membrane expression and secretion is achieved by alternative splicing and specific DNA recombination. The antibody of interest is initially displayed on the cell surface to facilitate FACS. Isolated high-producing cells are then seamlessly transformed into production cells after removing the membrane-anchoring domain sequence with a DNA recombinase. AMS technology has been applied in a number of antibody cell line development projects, which typically last 2-3 months. The top production cell lines exhibit very high specific productivity of 40-60 pg/cell/day resulting in production titers of 2-4 g/l in 10-day batch culture.