Excessive interferon-α signaling in autoimmunity alters glycosphingolipid processing in B cells.

Excessive interferon-α (IFN-α) production by innate immune cells is a hallmark of autoimmune diseases. What other cell type secretes IFN-α and how IFN-α affects immune cell metabolism and homeostasis in autoimmunity are largely unclear. Here, we report that autoimmune B cells, arising from two different B cell-specific genetic lesions in mice, secrete IFN-α.

Computational approach for understanding and improving GS-NS0 antibody production under hyperosmotic conditions.

A systematic computational framework is proposed for studying the underlying mechanisms of hyperosmotic conditions on GS-NS0 antibody production and to predict the optimal hyperosmotic induction time. Both IgG mRNA and polypeptide chain concentrations were positively related to the specific antibody productivity (q(Ab)) for normal and hyperosmotic conditions throughout. Hyperosmotic conditions resulted in 100% increase in specific IgG mRNA transcription rates; however, mRNA half-lives were 25% lower at both the mid-exponential and stationary phases.

Rapid characterization of high/low producer CHO cells using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight.

An intact-cell mass spectrometry (ICM) method using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) was evaluated for the screening of stable recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines, an important mammalian cell line in bioprocessing. With rapid and simple cell pretreatments, viabilities of cells could be rapidly distinguished on the different fingerprints of mass spectra. Detectable m/z values on cell surfaces and their relative intensities were processed by two biostatistical methods, principle components analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS), with promising results.

Development and analysis of a mathematical model for antibody-producing GS-NS0 cells under normal and hyperosmotic culture conditions.

The GS-NS0 cell line is industrially important and is currently used for the large-scale production of several therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. A novel hybrid model, consisting of both unstructured and structured elements, has been developed to describe cell growth and death, metabolism, and antibody production in the GS-NS0 system under normal culture conditions. A comparison between the hybrid model and a large-scale single-cell model (SCM) describing detailed metabolic processes verified the predictive ability of the hybrid model (when compared with experimental data) and highlighted the practical difficulties involved in utilizing complex models.