Stability Enhancement of hGM-CSF in Transgenic Nicotiana tabacum Suspension Cell Cultures

Proteolytic enzymes existing in plant cell cultured media are the major reason for the loss of secreted human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (hGM-CSF). The addition of pepstatin, aprotinin and PMSF relatively decreased the proteolytic degradation of hGM-CSF in a conditioned medium, but sufficient prevention against the proteolytic activity could not be obtained with chemical protease inhibitors. Gelatin, as a competitive substrate for protease, showed a stabilizing effect in a conditioned medium. Compared to the initial hGM-CSF concentration in a conditioned medium. with 10 g/L of gelatin, 68% of the hGM-CSF remained after 5 days. In a cell culture experiment, 5 g/L of gelatin significantly stimulated the hGM-CSF production and accumulation in culture media, with no growth inhibition. compared to the controls (4.72 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L), the extracellular hGM-CSF level could be increased to 39.78 $\mu\textrm{g}$/L with the addition of 5 g/L of gelatin.