Development of Stable CHO-K1 Cell Lines Overexpressing Full-Length Human CD20 Antigen
- Iran Biomed J. 2023 Sep 1;27(5):269-79. doi: 10.61186/ibj.27.5.269.
- 1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
- 2. Cellular and Molecular Biology Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
- 3. Department of Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
- 4. Department of Biotechnology, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background: CD20 is a differentiation-related antigen exclusively expressed on the membrane of B lymphocytes. CD20 amplification is observed in numerous immune-related disorders, making it an ideal target for immunotherapy of hematological malignancies and autoimmune diseases. MAb-based therapies targeting CD20 have a principal role in the treatment of several immune-related disordes and cancers, including CLL. Fc gamma receptors mediate CD20 internalization in hematopoietic cells; therefore, this study aimed to establish non-hematopoietic stable cell lines overexpressing full-length human CD20 antigen as an in vitro model for CD20-related studies.
Methods: CD20 gene was cloned into the transfer vector. The Lentivirus system was transfected to packaging HEK 293T cells, and the supernatants were harvested. CHO-K1 cells were transduced using Recombinant viruses, and a stable cell pool was developed by the Antibiotic selection. CD20 expression was confirmed at the mRNA and protein levels.
Results: Simultaneous expression of GFP protein facilitated the detection of CD20-expressing cells. Immunophenotyping analysis of stable clones demonstrated expression of CD20 antigen. In addition, the mean fluorescence intensity was significantly higher in the CD20-CHO-K1 clones than the wild-type CHO-K1 cells.
Conclusion: This study is the first report on using second-generation lentiviral vectors for the establishment of a non-hematopoietic cell-based system, which stably expresses full-length human CD20 antigen. Results of stable CHO cell lines with different levels of CD20 antigen are well suited to be used for CD20-based investigations, including binding and functional assays.