Targeted knockdown of ATM, ATR, and PDEδ increases Gag HIV-1 VLP production in HEK293 cells.

Several strategies have been developed in recent years to improve virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccine production processes. Among these, the metabolic engineering of cell lines has been one of the most promising approaches. Based on previous work and a proteomic analysis of HEK293 cells producing Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) Gag VLPs under transient transfection, four proteins susceptible of enhancing VLP production were identified: ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), ataxia telangiectasia and rad3-related (ATR), DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs), and retinal rod rhodopsin-sensitive cGMP 3',5'-cyclic phosphodiesterase subunit delta (PDEδ).

Metabolic engineering of HEK293 cells to improve transient transfection and cell budding of HIV-1 virus-like particles.

HIV-1 Gag virus-like particles (VLPs) are promising candidates for the development of future vaccines. Recent viral outbreaks have manifested the need of robust vaccine production platforms able to adapt to new challenges while achieving mass production capacity. For the rapid production of VLPs, the method of transient gene expression (TGE) have proved highly efficient.