Production of Monoclonal Antibody

Abstract

In the hollow-fiber bioreactor, medium is continuously pumped through a circuit that consists of a hollow-fiber cartridge, gas-permeable tubing that oxygenates the media, and a medium reservoir. The hollow-fiber cartridge is composed of multiple fibers that run through a chamber that contains hybridoma cells growing at high density. These fibers are semipermeable and serve a purpose similar to that of membrane-based systems. The hollow-fiber bioreactor is technically the most difficult of in vitro systems, partly because of the susceptibility of cells grown at extremely high density to environmental changes and toxic metabolic-byproduct buildup. The hollow-fiber bioreactor is designed to provide total yields of 500 mg mAb or more. Startup of this kind of system usually costs more than $1,200. For those reasons, hollow-fiber reactors are used only if large quantities of mAb are needed. The hollow-fiber reactor has been successfully used in many independent laboratories (Jackson and others 1996; Knazek and others 1972; Peterson and Peavey 1998). If investigators are unable to invest the time or material costs, several institutional core facilities and government and commercial contract laboratories produce mAb from a hybridoma. For example, commercial contract laboratories typically charge $11/mg to produce 1,000 mg with hollow-fiber reactors (Chandler, 1998).