Establishment of a stable CHO cell line with high level expression of recombinant porcine IFN-β

Chen, Weiye; Cao, Wenyan; Zhao, Huijun; Hu, Qianqian; Qu, Linmao; Hu, Sen; Ge, Jinying; Wen, Zhiyuan; Wang, Xijun; Li, HaoBo; Huang, Kehe; Bu, Zhigao

A CHO cell clone (CHO-PoIFN-β) with stable porcine IFN-β expression under control of CMV promoter was selected under G418 pressure. In a 25 cm(2) cell culture flask (5 ml culture medium), the cumulative protein yield of recombinant PoIFN-β reached 2.3 × 10(6) IU/ml. This cells clone maintained stable expression for at least 20 generations even in the absence of G418 selection pressure. The expressed recombinant PoIFN-β could induce the expression of porcine Mx protein in PK15 cells, and activate the chicken Mx promoter-controlled luciferase reporter gene expression, confirming that the recombinant PoIFN-β has the biological activity of natural porcine type-I interferon. In addition, the recombinant PoIFN-β fully protected PK15 cells against 1000 TCID(50) of porcine transmissible gastroenteritis virus and pseudo-rabies virus infection, demonstrating its high potential in therapeutic applications. This is the first report of establishing a mammalian cell line with stable expression of porcine IFN-β.