High-yield production of a human monoclonal IgG by rhizosecretion in hydroponic tobacco cultures

Rhizosecretion of recombinant pharmaceuticals from invitro hydroponic transgenic plant cultures is a simple, low cost, reproducible and controllable production method. Here, we demonstrate the application and adaptation of this manufacturing platform to a human antivitronectin IgG(1) monoclonal antibody (mAb) called M12. The rationale for specific growth medium additives was established by phenotypic analysis of root structure and by LC-ESI-MS/MS profiling of the total protein content profile of the hydroponic medium. Through a combination of optimization approaches, mAb yields in hydroponic medium reached 46g/mL in 1week, the highest figure reported for a recombinant mAb in a plant secretion-based system to date. The rhizosecretome was determined to contain 104 proteins, with the mAb heavy and light chains the most abundant. This enabled evaluation of a simple, scalable extraction and purification protocol and demonstration that only minimal processing was necessary prior to protein A affinity chromatography. MALDI-TOF MS revealed that purified mAb contained predominantly complex-type plant N-glycans, in three major glycoforms. The binding of M12 purified from hydroponic medium to vitronectin was comparable to its Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-derived counterpart. This study demonstrates that invitro hydroponic cultivation coupled with recombinant protein rhizosecretion can be a practical, low-cost production platform for monoclonal antibodies.