High-Level Expression of Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-4 in Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells

Bone morphogenetic protein-4 (BMP-4) is a signaling homodimeric molecule that acts as a morphogen to influence cell fate in a concentration-dependent manner. The limited supply of a pure preparation of BMP-4, due to very low level of their expression in vivo, makes it difficult not only to study the biological activities of BMPs, but also to use them as a clinical tool. For a large-scale production of BMP-4, human BMP-4 cDNA was expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells by a recently development vector system, which confers position-independent stable expression of the foreign genes. The CHO cell line expressing recombinant human BMP-4 (rhBMP-4) at the level of $7\;{\mu}g/ml$ could be obtained after stepwise selection with methotrexate. This level of expression is about 70 times higher than those previously reported. The partially processed form of BMP-4 as well as mature form could be detected, when the aliquots of culture media were analyzed by Western blot. The glycosylation pattern and biological activity of the rhBMP-4 were determined by glycosidase treatment and the induction rate of alkaline phosphatase in mouse osteoblastic cells.