Development and Validation of a Reporter-Cell-Line-Based Bioassay for Therapeutic Soluble gp130-Fc

Soluble glycoprotein 130 kDa (sgp130)-Fc fusion protein, an innovative therapeutic bio-macromolecular drug specifically targeting IL-6 trans-signaling, proved to have good potential for application in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases. A simple and quick bioassay for sgp130-Fc was developed in this study. First, a stable reporter cell line was obtained by transfecting CHO-K1 cells with a sis-inducible element (SIE)-driving luciferase reporter gene (CHO/SIE-Luc). Sgp130-Fc could inhibit the expression of luciferase induced by IL-6/sIL-6Rα complex, and the dose–response curve fitted the four-parameter logistic model, with 50% inhibitive concentration (IC50) being about 500 ng/mL and detection range between 40 and 5000 ng/mL. Both the intra-assay and inter-assay coefficient of variation (CV) were below 10.0%, and the accuracy estimates ranged from 94.1% to 106.2%. The assay indicated a good linearity (R² = 0.99) in the range of 50% to 150% of optimized initial concentration. No significant difference was found between the test results of new assay and BAF3/gp130 proliferation assay (unpaired t test, p = 0.4960, n = 6). The dose-response effect and copy number of the luciferase gene was basically unchanged after long-term culture (up to passage 60), demonstrating the stability of CHO/SIE-Luc cells. These results suggested that the new reporter assay was suited to routine potency determination of therapeutic sgp130-Fc.