Study of Growth Factors in Spent Medium for Better Mammalian Cell Culture

Abstract

Monoclonal antibodies are widely used as anti-cancer drugs, extracorporeal diagnostic agents, etc. They are produced by mammalian cells such as hybridoma and CHO cells. Generally, these cells need growth factors such as insulin and transferrin in order to enhance the cell proliferation and antibody productivity therefore culture of antibody producing cells is very costly. In this study, we tried to discover useful materials to enhance antibody production and we focused on spent medium after antibody purification. In the spent medium, there were several proteins produced by antibody producing cells. It was cut off low-molecular compounds and concentrated by ultrafiltration module then the concentrated solution was named spent medium derived supplement. Spent medium derived supplement enhanced the cell proliferation and antibody production significantly when it was used with insulin and transferrin. These results indicate that spent medium after antibody purification has some attractive proteins or peptides which enhance cellar functions of antibody producing cells synergistically by combination of insulin and transferrin.