Ni Hms 650051

Pharmaceutical
Review
On the way to commercializing plant cell

culture platform for biopharmaceuticals:
present status and prospect
Plant cell culture is emerging as an alternative bioproduction system for recombinant Jianfeng Xu*,1,2
pharmaceuticals. Growing plant cells in vitro under controlled environmental & Ningning Zhang1
conditions allows for precise control over cell growth and protein production, batch-
1
Arkansas Biosciences Institute, Arkansas
State University, Jonesboro, AR 72401,
to-batch product consistency and a production process aligned with current good
USA
manufacturing practices. With the recent US FDA approval and commercialization 2
College of Agriculture & Technology,
of the world’s first plant cell-based recombinant pharmaceutical for human use, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro,
β-glucocerebrosidase for treatment of Gaucher’s disease, a new era has come in AR 72401, USA
which plant cell culture shows high potential to displace some established platform *Author for correspondence:
Tel.: +1 870 680 4812
technologies in niche markets. This review updates the progress in plant cell culture
Fax: +1 870 972 2026
processing technology, highlights recent commercial successes and discusses the [email protected]
challenges that must be overcome to make this platform commercially viable.
The term ‘biopharmaceuticals’ refers to thera- and mammalian cell-based production. It

peutic proteins produced by modern biotech- has been estimated that 45% of recombinant
nological techniques [1] . Biopharmaceuticals proteins in the USA and Europe are made in
have revolutionized modern medicine and mammalian cells (35% in Chinese hamster
represent the fastest growing sector within the ovary or CHO cells, and 10% in others),
pharmaceutical industry. There are over 200 40% in bacteria (39% in Escherichia coli and
protein biopharmaceuticals currently on the 1% in others) and 15% in yeasts [6] . These
market [2] , used for the treatment of diabetes, established production platforms will con-
anemia, hepatitis, cancer and cardiovascu- tinue to be the focus of most biopharmaceu-
lar diseases [3,4] , and in excess of 400 under tical companies who may not look beyond
development. Included among this group these for regulatory reasons or simply due to
of protein therapeutics are mainly antibod- inertia borne from unfamiliarity. However,
ies and antibody derivatives, vaccines and there are limitations associated with these
some serum-derived proteins, for example, systems in terms of cost, scalability, safety
cytokines, growth hormones, interleukins and quality/authenticity of proteins. For
and interferon. The world market for bio- example, the mammalian cell-based system
pharmaceuticals was valued at approximately suffers from limitation in culture scalability,
US$199.7 billion in 2013, and is estimated to high production cost and risk of contamina-
reach US$497.9 billion by 2020, representing tion with human pathogens. The prokary-
a compound annual growth rate of 13.5% [5] . otic nature of bacteria (e.g., E. coli) limits
Monoclonal antibodies constitute the largest the complexity of the proteins (cannot be
segment in the biopharmaceuticals market, correctly processed, such as glycosylation),
accounting for an estimated share of 25.6% and the appearance of inclusion bodies
in 2013. In terms of therapeutic areas, neurol- increases the cost of production. For yeast-
ogy applications is the largest market with an based systems, low product yields, inefficient
estimated share of 28.2% in 2013 [5] . protein secretion and hyperglycosylation of
Currently, the biopharmaceutical indus- proteins (addition of a large number of man-
part of
try relies mainly on microbial fermentation nose residues) are common problems. These
10.4155/PBP.14.32 © 2014 Future Science Ltd Pharm. Bioprocess. (2014) 2(6), 499–518 ISSN 2048-9145 499
Review Xu & Zhang
Key terms based biopharmaceutical company (Karmiel, Israel),

Molecular farming: A new biotechnology that uses
and marketed by Pfizer.
plants as a host to produce recombinant therapeutics, Before Protalix’s landmark success, Dow AgroSci-
such as vaccines and antibodies, as well as industrial ences (IN, USA; [12]) received in 2006 the world’s first
proteins in large quantities. regulatory approval by the US Department of Agricul-
Plant cell culture: Techniques used to maintain or grow ture (USDA) for a tobacco cell-based vaccine against
undifferentiated plant cells under sterile conditions on Newcastle disease virus [13] . The commercial success
a nutrient culture medium of known composition. Plant by these two companies undoubtedly ushers in a new
cell culture has been used to produce valuable secondary
metabolites and recombinant proteins. era in the biopharmaceutical industry that promises
to provide growth opportunity for this new platform.
Protalix: An Israel-based biopharmaceutical company that Other plant cell-made pharmaceuticals, including
uses plant cell cultures as a bioproduction platform for
recombinant therapeutic proteins. In May 2012, Protalix monoclonal antibodies [14–16] , vaccines [17–20] , growth
partnered with Pfizer to commercialize the world’s first factors [21] and cytokines [22–25] that are in pre- and early
plant cell-based recombinant pharmaceutical for human clinical stages, as well as more therapeutic enzymes in
use, taliglucerase alpha for treatment of Gaucher’s disease.
the Protalix’s development pipeline [11] , are expected
to enter into the marketplace in the future. Plant cell
limitations have prompted research into alternative culture is now reaching the stage at which it may chal-
bioproduction platforms. lenge those established bioproduction systems that use
‘Molecular farming’ in plants is emerging as a bacterial, yeast and mammalian cells, though major
promising approach for the production of recombinant problems with plant cell culture still exist with regards
pharmaceuticals; its potential for low-cost production to low product yields, inherent production variability
of high quality, safe and biologically active mamma- and nonmammalian glycosylation. This review high-
lian proteins has been well reported [7] . Unlike other lights the recent advancements and commercial suc-
expression systems, molecular farming has different cess of the plant cell-based bioproduction platform,
forms, including cultivation of whole plants in fields, and discusses the prospect and challenges that must be
transient expression by agroinfiltration of plants or overcome to make this platform commercially viable.
virus-infected plants, in vitro culture of plant tissues or
organs and plant cell suspension culture. All of them Plant cell culture as an attractive
have been investigated as economical alternative bio- bioproduction platform
production platforms in the past two to three decades Basics of plant cell culture system
[7,8] . Attention is now shifting from basic research Similar to the microbial and mammalian cells, undif-
toward commercial exploitation of the molecular ferentiated plant calli can be dispersed in liquid media
farming system. and propagated in perpetuity under a sterile and con-
Compared with cultivation of whole plants or plant trolled environment. Plant cell suspension culture was
tissues or organs, plant cell suspension culture has originally developed for production of valuable sec-
more immediate potential for industrial application, ondary metabolites, such as paclitaxel, shikonin, arte-
as it is analogous to traditional microbial fermenta- misinin, digoxin, ginsenosides and ajmalicine with a
tion and mammalian cell culture with less regulatory few commercial successes [26–29] . Only in the last two
and environmental concerns. In fact, the plant cell decades has the production potential of the plant cell
culture system has long been exploited for its unique culture for heterologous proteins been recognized and
biosynthetic potential for secondary metabolites or it has now become a viable alternative bioproduction
therapeutic proteins, but with limited success [9] . platform for pharmaceutical proteins.
This is mainly because the characteristics of growth The most widely used plant cell lines for recombi-
and metabolism of plant cells differ considerably from nant biopharmaceutical production are those derived
those of microbial and mammalian cells. An impor- from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), such as cultivars
tant breakthrough was achieved in May 2012, when BY-2 (N. tabacum cv. Bright Yellow 2) cells (Figure 1)
the carrot cell-produced therapeutic enzyme, taliglu- and NT-1 (N. tabacum-1) cells. They have appealing
cerase alfa (commercially known as ELELYSO™, a features, including being fast-growing, robust and able
hydrolytic lysosomal glucocerebrosidase for intrave- to readily undergo Agrobacterium-mediated transfor-
nous infusion) was finally approved by the US FDA mation and cell cycle synchronization [30–32] . Other
as an orphan drug for treatment of Gaucher’s disease, commonly used plant cell lines are those derived from
and thereby became the world’s first plant-made phar- common edible crop species, such as rice (Oriza sativa),
maceutical used in humans [10] . Taliglucerase alfa was soybean (Glycine max), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), car-
developed by Protalix Biotherapeutics [11] , an Israel- rot (Daucus carota) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculen-
500 Pharm. Bioprocess. (2014) 2(6) future science group

On the way to commercializing plant cell culture platform for biopharmaceuticals: present status & prospect Review
tum). In fact, these cell lines may be more favorable

than tobacco cells in terms of by-product levels and A
regulatory compliance [32] . Notably, carrot cells are
used by Protalix for the production of recombinant
human glucocerebrosidase, the first plant cell-made
biopharmaceutical approved for the market.
In addition to undifferentiated cells of higher
plants, suspension cultures of a lower plant – moss –
have received increasing interest as a new bioproduc-
tion platform. While plant cells do not need light and
grow on sugar-based media, moss (e.g., Physcomitrella
patens) requires light but needs only water and inor- B
ganic salts as a medium, which reduces the production
cost and facilitates product recovery from the culture
media [17] . A unique feature of the moss P. patens is its
ability to promote efficient homologous recombination
[33] , which means that new genes can be transformed
into the moss genome and endogenous genes can be
disrupted by gene targeting [17] . The gene targeting
approach was efficiently used to modify the glycosyl-
ation pathway in moss by knocking out genes encoding 30 µm
enzymes that add nonhuman glycans to proteins, thus
allowing the production of humanized glycoproteins
[34,35] . The moss production system is being developed Figure 1. Suspension cultured tobacco BY-2 cells for
recombinant protein expression. (A) BY-2 cells grown in
by a German biopharmaceutical company, Greenova- a shake flask for a week; (B) Fluorescence micrographs
tion Biotech GmbH (Heilbronn, Germany) [36] , for the of BY2 cells expressing enhanced green fluorescence
production of complex pharmaceutical proteins. protein. The cells were inspected for green fluorescence
using a Zeiss LSM 510 laser-scanning confocal
Advantages over other expression systems microscope (Carl Zeiss AG, Jena, Germany) (488 nm
excitation; 510 nm emission). The cultured plant cells
Compared with other expression systems, the advan- are clustered, and most of the expressed enhanced
tages and disadvantages of plant cell culture platform green fluorescence protein protein is accumulated at
are summarized in Table 1. Plant cell culture inherits the cell wall-cytoplasm membrane interface.
most of the advantages of plant-based expression sys-
tems, particularly, the ability of being able to produce production platform is readily accepted by the current
complex proteins that are properly glycosylated, folded biopharmaceutical producers owing to its consistency
and assembled without the risk of contamination by with those established production systems. One addi-
pathogens and endotoxins [9] . Although suspension tional advantage of plant cell culture is that recombi-
culture of plant cells does not share the perspectives nant proteins can be secreted into culture media and,
of unlimited scalability of whole-plant cultivation in therefore, the downstream processing of recovering and
fields, it is totally devoid of the problems associated purifying proteins from culture media becomes much
with the vagaries of weather, pest, soil and gene flow less expensive than from whole plants. These advan-
in the environment [37] . Because of short growth cycles tages may partly outweigh the lower protein yields of
of suspension cultured cells, the timescale needed for the plant cell culture system along with its potentially
the production of recombinant proteins in plant cell higher capital costs [17,37] .
culture can be counted in days or weeks compared On the other hand, plant cell culture resembles
with months needed for the production in transgenic traditional microbial fermentation or mammalian
whole plants [37] . In addition, growing plant cells in cell culture; all propagate in bioreactors as homoge-
sterile and controlled environments, such as the biore- neous suspensions for large-scale production. Similar
actor system, allows for precise control over cell growth to microbial fermentation, plant cells have relatively
conditions, batch-to-batch product consistency, utili- rapid doubling times (as fast as 16 h) and can grow
zation of chemically inducible promoters or viral vec- in simple synthetic media using conventional bioreac-
tors and a production process aligned with cGMP tors. However, as higher eukaryotic organisms, plant
[9,31,38] . As such, the regulatory concerns regarding cells are more comparable to mammalian cells that
plant cell-made pharmaceuticals are reduced, and the can execute nearly all post-translational modifications
future science group www.future-science.com 501

Review Xu & Zhang
Table 1. Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of plant cell culture platform compared with other
expression systems.
Compared with: Plant cell culture
Advantages Disadvantages
Whole plant – Faster production process – Lower scalability
cultivation – Simpler procedure for separation and purification – Higher capital cost
of protein – Genetic instability
– Improved consistency of protein product
– Fewer regulatory and environmental compliance
hurdles
Plant transient – Simpler production procedure – Longer time to establish
expression – Easier separation and purification of protein – Lower protein yield
Mammalian/ – Safety, no contamination by animal virus – Nonmammalian glycosylation
insect cell culture – Much lower medium cost – Lower protein yields
Yeast – Capability to synthesize complex proteins (e.g., – Lower protein yield
fermentation antibodies) – Lower growth rate
Escherichia coli – Correct protein folding – Lower protein yield
fermentation – Performing protein glycosylation – Lower growth rate
– Safety, no contamination by endotoxins
and synthesize complex proteins, for example, glyco groups of therapeutic proteins expressed in plant cell
proteins similar to their native counterparts [39] . Nev- culture system, antibodies remain the most frequently
ertheless, plant cells offers an unique attractive feature chosen because they represent the dominant class of
compared with these systems – safety. This is because recombinant proteins for the pharmaceutical industry,
plant cells do not harbor any known human pathogens and they are also relatively stable, thus can accumulate
and bacterial endotoxins, which are important con- to high levels (>100 mg/l) [42] . In addition, antibodies
siderations for therapeutics production. This issue has can be purified easily from the media or cell extracts by
received significant consideration after Genzyme (MA, Protein A affinity chromatography [17] .
USA) experienced interruption (June, 2009) in their
CHO cell production of Cerezyme® (Genzyme) due Plant cell oral delivery system
to infection of the cell line with a calicivirus. Such a One of the unique features of plant cell-produced
risk is completely absent from plant cell culture system. pharmaceuticals is the concept that plant cells not only
Therefore, plant cell culture is regarded as integrating serve as the production system but also as the delivery
the merits of whole-plant systems with those of micro- vehicle for oral medications [54,55] . Oral drug delivery
bial and mammalian cell cultures, and holds great must overcome several hurdles, such as the acidic and
promise as a new ‘biofactory’ for valuable therapeutic digestive gastric environment, to improve the bio-
proteins [31–32,40] . availability of biopharmaceuticals [56] . Plant cells have
fibrous walls made of cellulose, which cannot be broken
Pharmaceutical proteins produced by plant cell down by human enzymes in the gastrointestinal tract,
culture but they can be degraded by the microbes that colo-
Since the first human protein (serum albumin) was nize in the gut. This feature enables biopharmaceuti-
expressed in tobacco cells in 1990 [41] , a wide array of cals expressed inside plant cells (or bioencapsulated) to
biologically active proteins has been successfully pro- be protected in the stomach from acids/enzymes, but
duced in plant cell culture in the past 20–25 years. released in the intestines to the immune or blood cir-
These mainly include antibodies, vaccine antigens, culatory system when plant cell walls are digested by
growth hormones and factors, cytokines and thera- gut-residing microbes [56] .
peutic enzymes. A comprehensive list of these proteins Oral delivery of plant cell-expressed biopharmaceu-
has been published recently [31] . Besides the first two ticals is currently being developed for treating a num-
recombinant proteins that have been approved for ber of human and animal diseases. Of special interest
commercial production (i.e., Newcastle disease vaccine is the edible vaccine, in which an antigenic protein is
and β-glucocerebrosidase), some other representative bioencapsulated in plant cells. It has been regarded
pharmaceutical proteins that show potential for com- as a cost-effective, easy-to-store, easy-to-administer
mercialization are listed in Table 2. Of the different and socioculturally readily acceptable vaccine delivery

system, especially for developing countries [57] . Many Key term

edible vaccines, such as those against Dengue, polio, Edible vaccine: A vaccine in which an antigenic protein
malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, anthrax and plague, is engineered into cells of an edible plant, such as lettuce,
have been shown to confer both mucosal and systemic spinach, broccoli and potatoes. After ingestion, the
immunity and protection against bacterial, viral or antigen is released from plant cells and recognized by the
immune system. For edible vaccines, plant cells not only
protozoan pathogens and toxin challenge [56,58–61] . serve as the production system but also as the delivery
In addition to edible vaccines, oral delivery of auto- vehicle for an antigen.
antigens (diabetes, hemophilia, etc.) was found to
be effective against complications of Type I diabetes dase (PRX-112) bioencapsulated in carrot cells is being
and hemophilia [62–64] ; oral delivery of proinsulin or developed by Protalix for the treatment of Gaucher’s
exendin-4 could regulate blood glucose levels similar disease. The Phase I clinical trial data just released
to injections [65] . Most noticeably, oral glucocerebrosi- (February 2014) demonstrated that active glucocer-
Table 2. Representative plant cell-produced pharmaceutical proteins.

Product Plant species Promoter Ref.
Antibody
Anti-HBsAg mAb Nicotiana tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [14]
Anti-rabies virus mAb N. tabacum cv. Xanthi CaMV35S [15]
Anti-HIV antibody 2G12 N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [16]
Antigen (vaccine)
HBsAg Glycine max cv. Williams 82 (ocs) 3mas [18]
N. tabacum cv. NT-1 CaMV35S [43]
N. tabacum cv. BY-2 (ocs) 3mas† [19]
Hemagglutinin-neuraminidase of N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [17]

Newcastle disease virus
Escherichia coli O157:H7 intimin N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [44]
Therapeutic enzyme
Glucocerebrosidase Daucus carota CaMV35S [45,46]
Recombinant α-galactosidase-A D. carota CaMV35S [11]
DNase I D. carota CaMV35S [11]
Growth hormone & factor

hGH N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [25]
Oryza sativa L. cv. Donjin RAmy3D [47]
Cytokines
hIL-12 O. sativa RAmy3D [48]
hIL-10 N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [49]
hGM-CSF O. sativa RAmy3D [24]
hIFNα2 N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [22]
hEPO Physcomitrella patens PpUbq1 ‡

[23,50]
Others
Bryodin-1 N. tabacum cv. NT-1 CaMV35S [51]
Human α1-antitrypsin O. sativa RAmy3D [52]

D. carota CaMV35S [11]
Human lactoferrin Acanthopanax senticosus SWPA2§ [53]

†
Hybrid promoter constructed from octopine synthase (ocs) and mannopine synthase (mas) promoter sequences.
‡
5’ promoter region of a moss (Physcomitrella patens) ubiquitin gene.
§
Sweet potato peroxidase anionic 2 promoter, an oxidative stress-inducible peroxidase promoter.
HBsAg: Hepatitis B surface antigen; hEPO: Human erythropoietin; hGH: Human growth hormone; hGM-CSF: Human GM-CSF;
hIFNα2: Human interferon α2b; hIL: Human interleukin; mAB: Monoclonal antibody

Review Xu & Zhang
ebrosidase was detected in the patients’ blood circula- Dow AgroScience, LLC
tion and continuously present over 30 h following oral Dow AgroSciences [12] is a US company based in
administration [11] . Thus, with daily administration of Indianapolis (IN). Dow AgroSciences developed the
oral glucocerebrosidase, a steady-state level of active Concert™ Plant-Cell-Produced System as a leading
glucocerebrosidase in the patients’ blood circulation is edge platform for the production of vaccine antigen.
expected to be achieved [66] . These results demonstrate In January 2006, Dow AgroSciences received regula-
that a plant cell-based oral delivery system can offer tory approval for the world’s first plant-cell-produced
a low-cost alternative for delivering different thera- vaccine against Newcastle disease virus in poultry
peutic proteins to combat infectious or inherited dis- from the USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics. This
eases by eliminating inactivated pathogens, expensive approval represents an innovative milestone for the
purification, cold storage/transportation and sterile company and the industry.
injections [56] The plant-derived poultry vaccine is the recom-
One of the major challenges for the plant cell oral binant hemagglutinin-neuraminidase glycoprotein,
delivery system lies in the accumulation of a sufficient one of the surface glycoproteins of the Newcastle dis-
amount of biopharmaceuticals in plant cells so that ease virus and the major surface antigen that induces
a required dose can be consumed easily. Progress has neutralizing antibodies. The vaccine was expressed
been made toward the improvement of protein expres- in tobacco BY-2 cells. In order to reduce the produc-
sion in plant cell culture [31] , as discussed below. In tion cost and make a plant-derived veterinary vaccine
addition, downstream processing technologies have economically viable, crude cell extract containing the
also advanced; for example, the lyophilization pro- recombinant hemagglutinin-neuraminidase glycopro-
cess has been shown to increase the therapeutic protein was directly injected into chickens and full protec-
tein contents up to 25-fold (on a per gram basis) and tion on the chickens when challenged with the virus
maintain therapeutic protein’s stability for more than was conferred [17,68] . Although the plant cell-produced
15 months at room temperature [65] . However, before poultry vaccine has been proven to be effective and
the oral delivery of plant cell-based vaccine antigens/ received regulatory approval, it only remained a proof-
biopharmaceuticals becomes a practical reality, some of-concept. Dow AgroSciences has never intended
issues, such as the uniformity and quality control to market this product. Instead, it used this animal
of the products and public acceptance of genetically vaccine as an example to completely run through the
modified plants, still need be addressed. process However, it paved the way for future plant
cell-made therapeutics.
Companies devoted to commercialization of
plant cell culture platforms Phyton Biotech, Inc.
Even though plant cell culture has been shown as a Phyton Biotech [69] , based in East Windsor, NJ, USA
promising alternative bioproduction platform for phar- (closed in 2008), used to be the pioneer and leader in
maceutical proteins, there are only a few biotech or commercializing plant cell culture for the production
pharmaceutical companies that have ever focused or of small molecules as well as recombinant proteins. Its
are focusing on the development and commercializa- research and development center is located in Vancou-
tion of this platform. In addition to Protalix, which ver, Canada and plant cell culture manufacturing facil-
successfully commercialized the plant cell-produced ity located in Ahrensburg, Germany, where the world’s
β-glucocerebrosidase enzyme for human use, Dow largest commercial cGMP manufacturing facility for
AgroSciences and Phyton Biotech (NJ, USA) are plant cell fermentation (bioreactors up to 75,000 l)
another two companies that have made efforts in com- is operated. With the proprietary plant cell culture
mercializing the plant cell culture platform; a German fermentation (PCF™) platform, Phyton has devel-
biopharmaceutical company, Greenovation Biotech, oped and commercialized products with applications
is trying to commercialize the moss-based bioproduc- in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, such as
tion system. These companies will be introduced in paclitaxel and docetaxel.
detail below. In addition, a nonprofit German research The significant commercial success for Phyton was
institute, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biol- developing a commercial production of paclitaxel with
ogy and Applied Ecology (Fraunhofer IME; Aachen, Taxus (T. chinensis) cell suspension culture [70] , which
Germany) [67] , has conducted sophisticated plant cell since 1995 has provided Bristol-Myers Squibb with
fermentation strategies, such as fed-batch and con- a secure, sustainable and environmentally-friendly
tinuous fermentation, for recombinant protein pro- source of paclitaxel for Taxol®, a mitotic inhibitor used
duction. Fraunhofer IME also successfully established in cancer chemotherapy. Later, Phyton expanded its
cryopreservation protocols for some plant cell lines. PCF™ platform to include recombinant proteins. In

2007, Phyton acquired novel glyco-engineering tech- Key term

nology from Dow Chemical Co. (MI, USA) to pro- Disposable bioreactor: A single-use bioreactor equipped
duce humanized glycoproteins (monoclonal antibod- with a disposable bag (typically made from plastic) instead of
ies) in cultured plant cells [69] , but ended up without a stainless steel or glass vessel. Disposable bioreactors provide
achieving commercial success. In addition, Phyton has benefits such as high flexibility, ease of handling, reduction
in cross-contamination and savings in both time and cost.
developed proprietary cryopreservation technology for
long-term storage of plant cells to stably express their minal mannose residues, the recombinant enzyme does
traits, thereby ensuring resupply on demand. not require further modifications for clinical use after
bioproduction, resulting in significant cost reduction,
Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. approximately 25% less expensive than its competitor
Protalix [11] is an Israel-based biopharmaceutical com- Cerezyme® [45,46,74] . To some extent, such products are
pany that is leveraging its proprietary plant cell-based also known as ‘biobetters’ as an extension of ‘biosimi-
expression system, ProCellEx®, for the development lars’. In addition to ELELYSO, Protalix’s development
and commercialization of recombinant biopharm pipeline also includes the following product candidates:
aceuticals. Using ProCellEx, Protalix has been devel-
• PRX-102, a modified version of the recombinant
oping a proprietary pipeline of novel and biosimilar
human α-galactosidase A enzyme for the treatment
recombinant proteins that target large and established
of Fabry disease (Phase I/II clinical trial);
pharmaceutical markets. In May 2012, Protalix part-
nered with Pfizer to commercialize taliglucerase alfa • PRX-112, an orally delivered glucocerebrosidase
for injection (ELELYSO), the world’s first plant cell- enzyme that is produced and encapsulated within
produced human therapeutic protein approved by the carrot cells for the treatment of Gaucher’s disease
FDA for marketing. By 2013, approvals have been (Phase I clinical trial);
granted by the regulatory authorities of other coun-
tries including Israel, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico • PRX-110, a DNase I enzyme for the treatment of
and so on., and are expected to be granted in Canada, cystic fibrosis (preclinical trial);
Australia and Argentina by 2014. In Latin America,
ELEYSO is known as UPLYSO™ (alphataliglicerase). • PRX-107, an α1-antitrypsin for the treatment
Protalix’s taliglucerase alfa is a recombinant active of emphysema due to hereditary α1-antitrypsin
form of the lysosomal enzyme, β-glucocerebrosidase, deficiency (preclinical trial).
which is expressed in carrot root cells cultured in a PRX-106, an oral formulation of anti-TNF-α for
disposable bioreactor system (Figure 2) . The enzyme is the treatment of immune and inflammatory mediated
used to treat Gaucher’s disease, the most common lyso- disorders (preclinical trial);
somal disease caused by decreased activity of the lyso- Obviously, Protalix is currently the world’s leader
somal enzyme acid β-glucosidase, resulting in lysosomal in development and commercialization of the plant
accumulation of glucosylceramide [71] . Currently, the cell-based production platform for biopharmaceuticals
main treatment option for patients with severe Gauch- with great success.
er’s disease is enzyme therapy. Since 1994, Cerezyme®,
an analog of the human enzyme ß-glucocerebrosidase Greenovation Biotech, GmbH
produced in CHO cells by Genzyme, has been used for Greenovation Biotech [36] is a German biopharma-
enzyme therapy. Since proper glycosylation of ß-gluco- ceutical company that employs its proprietary moss
cerebrosidase is required for optimal enzyme activity (Physcomitrella)-based BryoTechnology™ for the
and targeting to macrophages, functional enzyme can- commercialization of recombinant biopharmaceuti-
not be produced by prokaryotic E. coli [9] . Even for the cals. Similar to higher plants, P. patens is able to grow
CHO cell-expressed imiglucerase, it must be enzymati- using light as a sole source of energy and can perform
cally processed in vitro to expose terminal mannose res- complex post-translational modifications of expressed
idues that are specifically recognized by the endocytic proteins [23] . The moss N-glycans are generally free of
carbohydrate receptors on macrophages for efficient the core α-1,6-fucose, a sugar-structure typically pres-
uptake [17,72] . The plant cell-produced glucocerebro- ent on N-glycans of mammalian-cell-derived proteins.
sidase is regarded as a ‘biosimilar’ as it is structurally The absence of this sugar structure has been proven
homologous to Cerezyme®, with comparable enzymatic to drastically increase the efficacy of IgG-products
activity and uptake in macrophages [46,73] . Because the by enhancing antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxic-
newly synthesized glucocerebrosidase is targeted to the ity [75] . In addition, genome engineering in the moss,
plant cell vacuoles where the complex type N-glycans which is based on a homologous recombination, is
are trimmed to the paucimannose form and expose ter- straightforward and very effective compared with that

Review Xu & Zhang
A
CaMV35S TMV Ω Signal Vacuolar
GCD gene Terminator
enhancer peptide signal
Smal Xbal
pGREENII
B C
Asn Asn
Mannose Fucose Xylose
N-acetylglucosamine
Figure 2. Recombinant human β-glucocerebrosidase production with carrot cell culture by Protalix
BioTherapeutics. (A) GCD expression cassette constructed in the binary vector pGREENII. The expression cassette
comprises the CaMV35S promoter, the TMV omega translational enhancer, a signal peptide, the human GCD
sequence, a vacuolar targeting signal and the octopine synthase terminator sequence from Agrobacterium
tumefaciens [46] . (B) Carrot cell suspension culture in disposable plastic bioreactors for the production of GCD
[11] . (C) Two major N-linked glycan structures detected on the recombinant GCD expressed in carrot cells. These
N-glycans have a main core of two N-acetylglucosamine residues and a β1–4-linked Mannose, attached to two
additional mannose residues in α1–3 and α1–6 linkages (shadowed) [46] .
GCD: β-glucocerebrosidase; TMV: Tobacco mosaic virus.
in other organisms (e.g., mammalian and insect cells, ogy. A protein yield of 10 mg/l was generally regarded
and other plants). Greenovation has used genome as the entry level for commercial process development
engineering extensively to optimize the N-Glycan [32] . Recent advances in plant molecular biology have
structures of produced proteins [34–35,76] . greatly improved the yields of some heterologous pro-
Currently, Greenovation has two moss-derived prod- teins well beyond 10 mg/l. For example, a production
ucts under preclinical development. Both of them are tar- yield of up to 247 mg/l of α1-antitrypsin was achieved
geted for enzyme-replacement therapies: α-galactosidase in rice cell culture using a sucrose-inducible RAmy3D
for Fabry disease and β-glucocerebrosidase for Gaucher promoter [77] .
disease. The α-galactosidase is the company’s lead can- For reaching a high protein expression in plant cell
didate, and the preclinical development of this enzyme cultures, strategies not only at the molecular level but
is close to being completed. With the GMP-manufac- also at the process development level are required to
turing and protein analytics having been fully estab- maximize the efficiency of all stages of the production
lished, greenovation plans to move this first ever moss- pipeline (Table 3) [7,28,31] . Because these strategies have
expressed biopharmaceutical candidate into clinical been extensively reviewed recently [7,31] , the following
trial Phase I/II in Fall 2014. discussions only give a brief summarization and high-
lights those that resulted in high levels of protein pro-
Strategies for enhanced plant cell culture duction. In addition, a proprietary technology, termed
production HypGlyco technology, that dramatically facilitates the
Although numerous studies have demonstrated the fea- secretion of expressed proteins from cultured plant
sibility of plant cell culture for biopharmaceutical pro- cells is also introduced [78] .
duction, only a few examples have been commercially
developed so far. Generally, low protein yields, typically Molecular approaches
ranging from 0.01 to 10 mg/l, remain the major bottle- Molecular approaches target mainly the two genetic
neck limiting the commercialization of this technol- information transfer processes defined in the cen-

tral dogma: transcription and translation [111–113] . In cell culture with the highest secreted protein yields
the past decade, significant progress has been made reaching 247 mg/l for α1-antitrypsin [77] . However,
to improve the recombinant protein expression in the growth characteristics of the rice cell line are infe-
plant cells through enhancing gene transcription and rior to those of tobacco BY-2 and NT-1 cell lines [32]
improving translation efficiency [111,113–114] , boosting and the viability of rice cells is significantly decreased
protein yields by up two or three orders of magnitude when grown in a sucrose-starvation medium to acti-
[40,113] . In addition, improving post-translational pro- vate the RAmy3D promoter [31,40] . More information
tein stability is also critical in achieving high protein about the characteristics of various promoters used for
yields [115] . expressing foreign genes in plant cell culture system are
For enhanced gene transcription in plant cells, strong summarized by Huang and McDonald [40] .
promoter systems (either constitutive or inducible) can Translation efficiency can be improved by manip-
be utilized. The most commonly used constitutive ulating the 5’- and 3’- untranslated region of the
promoters, cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV 35S) plant expression cassettes [112] . For example, utiliza-
promoter resulted in up to 35 mg/l hGH [25] , 30 mg/l tion of the 5’-leader sequence, such as those from a
Bryodin-1 [51] and 28 mg/l hIFNα2 [22] expressions in tobacco etch virus, tobacco mosaic virus or alfalfa
tobacco cell culture. Alternatively, inducible promot- mosaic virus, enhanced the transgene expression by
ers, particularly those regulated by chemical stimuli, several-fold due to enhanced translation efficiency
such as alcohol, steroid, salts, sucrose and so on, have [31] . In addition, another commonly used approach
been increasingly used in recent years. The most suc- to improve translation efficiency is through codon
cessful example of an inducible promoter developed optimization of the transgene by using the preferred
for plant cell expression is using the rice α-amylase codon and/or removing the rare codon for the host
3D (RAmy3D) promoter, which is induced by sucrose plant cells [87] . A 5- to 10-fold increase in accumula-
starvation. The RAmy3D promoter has enabled high- tion of the human acetylcholinesterase in tobacco cells
level expression of many therapeutic proteins, such as has been shown by expressing the codon-optimized
α1-antitrypsin, hGM-CSF, hGH, Bryodin-1, hIL-12, gene sequence as compared with expressing the native
lysozyme and human serum albumin (hSA), in rice human sequence [86] . However, optimizing transgene
Table 3. Molecular and process development strategies used to improve recombinant protein yields
in plant cell cultures.
Strategies Approaches Ref.
Molecular approaches
Enhance transcription Develop strong promoters, double enhanced promoters and [18,79–81]
hybrid promoters
Use inducible promoters [53,77]
Engineer better enhancers, activators or repressors [82,83]
Improve translation efficiency Optimize 5’- and 3’-untranslated region [84,85]
Design preferred genetic codon [86,87]
Minimizing post-translational Target nascent proteins to subcellular compartments such as [88,89]

degradation endoplasmic reticulum.
Coexpress with protease inhibitor and protein cofactor/ [90,91]
subunit; coexpress antibody with antigen
Express as fusion to a highly expressed and stable peptide [22,25,92]
Process development
Improve cell culture methods Optimize medium composition and supplement protein- [93–100]
stabilizing agents
Develop immobilized cell culture [31,101]
In situ remove expressed protein [31,102–103]
Optimize culture scale-up Select and/or improve bioreactor design [104–106]
Select culture strategy (e.g., batch vs fed-batch vs continuous [24,107–110]

culture)

Review Xu & Zhang
codon does not always improve the yield of expressed ondary metabolites [31] . More information on adoption
proteins in plant cells. of advanced bioreactor culture strategies for enhanced
In order to minimize post-translational protein deg- plant cell-based production can be found in some
radation, targeting the foreign proteins to subcellular recent reviews [31,40,119] .
compartments, for example, the endoplasmic reticu-
lum (ER), has been widely used. This can be achieved HypGlyco technology for high-yield secretion
by linking an ER retention signal, such as the KDEL of recombinant proteins
or HDEL tag at the C-terminus of the target protein. HypGlyco technology exploits the glycosylation ‘code’
Retaining expressed proteins in the ER can effectively of plant hydroxyproline (Hyp)-rich glycoproteins for
prevent the foreign proteins from proteolytic degrada- de novo design of short biopolymer tags [122,123] , such
tion [112–113,115] and meanwhile, many molecular chap- as 5 to 50 tandem repeats of the ‘Ser–Pro’ dipeptide
erones contained in the ER help the nascent proteins motif, which are targeted for extensive Hyp-O-glyco-
fold and assemble correctly [116] . Recombinant protein sylation with arabinogalactan polysaccharides in plant
yields could typically be improved by 10- to 100- cells [122] . Such biopolymer tags appear to function as
fold with ER retention compared with those entering a ‘molecular carrier’ in promoting efficient transport
the secretory pathway [32,89,115,117] . The expression of of the tagged recombinant proteins into culture media
KDEL-tagged human EGF in tobacco cells resulted as well as protecting the proteins from proteolytic
in a 104-fold increase in protein yield [88] . In addition, degradation (Figure 3) . HypGlyco technology has been
other strategies were also developed for reducing the shown to dramatically enhance the yields of secreted
effects of proteolytic degradation in plant cells, which proteins as high as 1500-fold compared with control
include: coexpression of a recombinant protein with systems [22,78] . A series of proteins, including reporter
protease inhibitors, knockout mutations in the genes protein enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP)
encoding specific proteolytic enzymes and removal and human proteins such as hIFNα2, hGH, growth
of protease-specific sites from foreign proteins using hormone antagonist and hSA have been expressed
genetic engineering techniques [31,115,118] . in plant cells with the HypGlyco technology; high
secreted protein yields up to 250 mg/l EGFP were
Process development approaches achieved [22,25,78] . Furthermore, the extensively Hyp-
Because plant cells are cultivated in bioreactors for O-glycosylated HypGlyco carriers greatly extended the
process scale-up, the culture conditions can be altered serum half-life of small therapeutic proteins, for exam-
and manipulated much more easily than those for cul- ple, hGH and hIFNα2, by as much as 13-fold without
tivation of whole plants in fields. Enhanced protein significantly affecting their bioactivity [22,25] . In addi-
productivity can be achieved through optimization tion, the HypGlyco carriers decorated with many Hyp-
of bioreactor culture conditions and development of glycans (arabinogalactan polysaccharides) were found
advanced bioreactor culture strategies [31,40,119] . With to be not immunogenic when injected into mice and
the optimization of various operating conditions in a only mildly so when injected as a fusion protein [22,25] .
batch culture bioreactor (e.g., agitation speed, aera- While the HypGlyco carriers have been shown to
tion rate, pH and dissolved oxygen, higher protein improve the clinical effectiveness and the yields of
yields than those obtained from shake flasks were some protein therapeutics [22,25] , other pharmaceutical
achieved [108,120] . However, the inherent limitations of proteins might not function when they possess a glyco-
the batch culture mode, such as long lag phase, deple- sylated carrier or tag. For many pharmaceutical appli-
tion of key nutrients and the accumulation of inhibi- cations ‘equivalency’ is critical to acceptance. There-
tory substances/metabolites, prevent the batch culture fore, in practical applications, a site-specific cleave site
from achieving the desired productivity. Therefore, between the target protein and the HypGlyco carrier
advanced culture strategies, such as fed-batch culture can be designed for postharvest cleavage of the carrier
[108] , two-stage culture [24] , perfusion culture [107] , to recover the native recombinant protein. Although
semi-continuous culture [109] and continuous culture this will incur increased downstream processing costs,
[121] , have been developed for plant cell culture to fur- the HypGlyco technology is extremely promising for
ther improve cell density and productivity. In fact, overcoming the bottleneck of low protein yields, poten-
these culture strategies have been successfully utilized tially making molecular farming in plant cell culture
for mammalian and microbial cell culture processes for system economically feasible.
commercial production of various biobased products.
However, only a few studies related to advanced cul- Ongoing challenges and solutions
ture strategies for plant cell culture have been reported In addition to the major obstacle of low productivity in
and most of them directed to the production of sec- plant cell culture, which could be improved by molec-

A Arabinogalactan polysaccharide C kDa EGFP 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 (d)

Facilitate protein
secretion 135
100
Protect protein from 72
proteolytic degradation 55
S PS PS PS P 40
HypGlyco carrier Increase protein 33
27 (SP)32-EGFP
Protein solubility
Ser (S) Hyp (Hydroxyproline)
D (SP)32-EGFP
2500
B EGFP (SP)32-EGFP 2000
Absorbance
(220 nm)
1500
1000
500
0
EGFP < 1 mg/l EGFP > 250 mg/l
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (min)
Figure 3. Enhanced secreted protein yields by the HypGlyco technology in plant cell culture. (A) Schematic of
HypGlyco technology. Here, all the ‘Pro’ residues in the ‘Ser–Pro’ module, or (SP) for short, are hydroxylated to be
Hyp and subsequently O-glycosylated with arabinogalactan polysaccharides in plant cells; (B) Enhanced secretion
of EGFP by an N-terminal HypGlyco carrier (SP) 32 in tobacco BY-2 cell culture. The (SP) 32 refers to 32 tandem repeats
of the ‘Ser–Pro’ dipeptide motif, which dramatically enhanced the secretion of the tagged EGFP from the culture
tobacco cells with more than 250 mg/l of secreted EGFP detected. By comparison, EGFP expressed without a
HypGlyco carrier was barely detectable in the culture medium (<1.0 mg/l); (C) SDS-PAGE separation of the culture
media of the tobacco cells expressing (SP) 32–EGFP. The media were harvested every other day for 14 days. The
Coomassie blue-stained SDS-PAGE gel showed the (SP) 32–EGFP fusion protein dominated the cell culture media;
(D) Reversed-phase HPLC detection of the dominant (SP) 32–EGFP peak in the cell culture medium (after 12 days’
culture).
d: Days; EGFP: Enhanced green fluorescence protein.
ular and process development approaches as discussed N-glycans differ between plants and mammals owing
above, other major challenges remain to be addressed, to different processing and modifications of the core
including nonmammalian glycosylation, genetic insta- glycan in the Golgi apparatus [117,127] . N-linked gly-
bility and cell culture scale-up in bioreactors [38,98,124] , cans produced in plants usually contain the α(1,3)-
which are discussed briefly below. fucose and β(1,2)-xylose residues, two epitopes
not found in mammalian glycans are known to be
Nonmammalian glycosylation responsible for inducing immunogenicity [98,128–129] ;
While plant-produced proteins and native human whereas, the β(1,4)-galactose and terminal sialic acids
proteins have similar post-translational modifications, contained in mammalian glycoproteins are not syn-
some differences in glycosylation do exist. Alterations thesized in plants, which may reduce the clinical effi-
of the glycosylation pattern may not specifically affect ciency of the plant-produced glycoproteins owing to
the activity of a protein, but it is regarded as poten- decreased serum half-life [39,130] . Considerable progress
tially generating an immunogenicity response as well has been made toward the humanization of protein
as reducing functionality of the protein [98,117,125–126] . A N-glycosylation in plants. Some strategies that turned
comprehensive review of the N- and O-glycosylation of out to be feasible include retrieving of expressed pro-
proteins in plants and the limitations and advantages teins in the ER by adding a C-terminal tetrapeptide
of plant-specific glycosylation on therapeutic proteins H/KDEL motif [131,132] , knockout of endogenous
was published recently [39] . plant glycosyltransferases that transfer β(1,2)-xylose
N-glycosylation is the most important post-transla- and α(1,3)-fucose residues onto nascent proteins
tional modification as 30% of all approved biopharma [133–136] , and engineering of the mammalian glycos-
ceuticals contain N-linked glycans [17] . Although yltransferases, such as β(1,4)-galactosyltransferase or
the glycosylation machinery in plants is similar to β(1,4)-N-acetylglucosaminyl transferase III into host
its mammalian counterpart, the final complex-type plants [127,137] .

Review Xu & Zhang
However, plant-derived N-glycans are more of a Further research is needed to understand the impacts
problem in theory than in practice because nonmam- of the plant O-glycans on the stability, biological activ-
malian glycosylation does not necessarily always con- ity and efficacy of the therapeutic proteins [145] . On the
vey a negative impact on plant cell-expressed glyco- other hand, genetic glycoengineering can be applied to
proteins. In fact, it can affect the solubility, stability avoid the plant-specific O-glycosylation [35] . A straight-
and biological activity of a protein positively as well forward approach is to eliminate the O-glycan attach-
as negatively [17] . In contrast to mammalian cell-based ment sites − the Hyp residues on the recombinant pro-
production where a mixture of N-glycans is often pres- teins. This was achieved for the production of hEPO
ent on recombinant proteins, the N-glycans produced in the moss (P. patens) production system by ablation
in plants are very homogenous within/along a given or downregulation of a single prolyl-4-hydroxylases
protein molecule as well as between batches [16,134,138] . (P4H) gene [23] . This paved the way to a further
This opens opportunities for N-glycan-dependent humanization of plant-made biopharmaceuticals in
therapeutics, for example, those for treatment of the moss bioreactor.
lysosomal storage diseases. Plants are also amazingly
amenable to glyco-engineering, which provides an Genetic instability
intriguing opportunity for designing new N-glycans Suspension cultured plant cells have been frequently
normally not found in the target proteins, but will shown to suffer from genetic instability, resulting in
improve therapeutic performance [138] . A good exam- the loss of transgene expression. This poses another
ple is the recombinant glucocerebrosidase produced in challenge to plant cell culture technology. It has been
carrot cells, which was poised for FDA approval. The found that the expression of a recombinant IgG1 in
N-glycan structures of the therapeutic enzyme were tobacco cell culture dramatically decreased for a period
trimmed in plant cells to expose mannose residues, of 3 years compared with the relatively constant levels
leading to the correct mannose glycosylation pattern of the antibody expressed in tobacco hairy root culture
[45–46,74] . Another example of beneficial plant glyco- [102] . In another example, the expression of hGM-CSF
sylation is a desialylated form of human erythropoi- in tobacco NT-1 cell culture decreased by more than
etin (hEPO) produced in plants, termed asialo-hEPO, 80% following 250 subculture events [124] . Epigenetic
that lacks hematopoietic activity but can serve as a safe transcriptional silencing is thought to be the dominant
drug with neuro- and tissue-protective functions after contributing factor to the unstable protein expression
stroke and additional hypoxia stress [139,140] . In addi- in plant cell culture [146,147] . Other possible causes
tion, plant-specific glycans might also be advantageous include gene drift and transgene loss [31] .
for the formulation of more potent vaccines, because In order to overcome the issue of genetic instability,
the glycans might help increase the immune visibility an efficient technique to preserve elite plant cell lines,
of the antigen [17] . namely, cell banking, is required. This can be achieved
In contrast to N-glycosylation, which has signifi- by cryopreservation of the elite cell lines, usually in
cant structural and functional implications, much less liquid nitrogen at -196°C, in the form of Master and
attention has been paid on O-glycosylation and its Working cell banks [17,31] . Several plant cell lines have
impacts on the clinical function of plant-derived bio- been successfully frozen and restored from cryopreser-
pharmaceuticals [31] . Unlike N-glycosylation occurring vation, for example, a transgenic BY-2 cells producing
at a consensus sequence (Asn–X–Ser/Thr), there is no hSA has been cryopreserved for 1 week and the growth
well-defined consensus sequence for O-glycosylation. and recombinant protein productivity remained sta-
In plant cells, O-glycosylation has been described ble after cryopreservation [148] . However, there is no
mainly for the hydroxyl groups of Hyp, Ser and Thr universal technique for cryopreservation developed
residues. Of which, the O-glycosylation on Hyp resi- so far. A specific cryopreservation protocol needs to
due is unique to higher plants and green algae. The be adapted to each individual cell line. Alternative
Hyp-O-linked sugars are abundant in plant cells and approaches used to maintain high productivity of plant
make a major contribution to the structural properties cell lines include rescreening of high-producing cell
of the extracellular matrix. Therapeutic proteins pro- lines when the reduction of protein yield is observed
duced in plant cells could possibly bear Hyp-O-gly- and coexpression of gene silencing suppressors [31,40] .
cans that could be a source of immunogenicity [141–143] .
In fact, Hyp-O-glycosylation has been demonstrated Cell culture scale-up
to occur in the maize-expressed human IgA1 [144] . In Scale-up of cell cultures in bioreactors is the critical
addition, hEPO expressed in moss and N. benthami- step to achieve commercial productivity of plant cell
ana was shown to be hydroxylated within the ‘SPP’ culture technology. Although plant cells are readily
motif, but O-glycosylation was not observed [23,50] . cultured in most standard bioreactors, and those well-

established principles for the cultures of microbial and environments, such as pneumatic bioreactors (e.g., air-
mammalian cells also apply to plant cell culture, the lift and bubble column bioreactor), centrifugal impel-
transition from shake flasks to bioreactors is still com- ler bioreactors [152] or stirred tank bioreactors with
plicated and problematic; poor cell growth and low decreased impeller agitation speeds or with a specially
protein production have been reported when the plant designed low-shear impeller [31] . The concept of ‘criti-
cell culture was scaled up in bioreactors [149,150] . The cal shear stress’, above which cell viability is lost, has
engineering considerations of scaling up plant cell cul- been an important factor in establishing guidance for
ture and important features of various types of bioreac- plant cell bioreactor design [40] . A critical shear stress
tors have been well reviewed by Huang and McDonald between 50 and 200 N/m for plant cell culture was
recently [40,119] . earlier reported [153] .
Plant cells exhibit unique biological and morpho- In terms of morphology, suspension cultured plant
logical features that are distinctive from bacterial and cells tend to form aggregates ranging from two to thou-
mammalian cells, as summarized in Table 4, which sands of cells (from <100 μm to over 2 mm) and some-
might impose limitations on their applications in large- times even display cellular differentiation. The sizes of
scale growth and process development. Two distinc- cell aggregate are dependent on plant species, medium
tive properties of plant cell culture that call for a spe- composition, inoculum, cell growth stage and culture
cial consideration in bioreactor process development conditions [119] . On the one hand, formation of moder-
include large cell size and complex morphology [31,119] . ate cell aggregates (e.g., 100–1000 μm), known as self-
Plant cells (20–50 μm in diameter and 100–500 μm immobilization of cells, may protect the shear-sensitive
in length) are significantly larger than bacteria (<1 μm plant cells from shear damage and enhance sedimenta-
in diameter), yeasts (3–5 μm in diameter) and mam- tion rates of the cultured cells, thus facilitating media
malian cells (10–100 μm in diameter), with a large exchange as well as in situ recovery of culture broth.
intracellular vacuole accounting for up to 90% of the On the other hand, there are mixing and rheological
cell volume and a rigid, inflexible cellulose-based cell problems with the cultures of plant cell aggregates in
wall [40,151] . Thus, plant cells are susceptible to shear bioreactors because the cell aggregates tend to sediment
stresses, limiting the mechanical agitation techniques or stick to the reactor surfaces forming extensive wall
available to meet oxygen demands for cell growth. growth or crusts and they can also block the openings
The general solution to the shear-sensitivity property and pipes of a bioreactor. In addition, mass transfer of
of plant cells involves growing cells in low-shear stress the cell culture system is influenced; the inner cells of
Table 4. Comparison of plants cells with mammalian cells, yeasts and bacteria with regard to the
characteristics calling for special considerations in bioreactor process development.†
Characteristics Plant cells Mammalian cells Yeasts Bacteria
Size 20–50 μm in 10–50 μm 3–5 μm <1 μm
diameter and
100–500 μm in
length
Shape Spherical/ Spherical Spherical to Spherical
cylindrical ellipsoidal
Cell aggregation Aggregated to Single cells; not Single cells; not Single cells; not
form cell clusters aggregated aggregated aggregated
from <100 μm to
over 2 mm
Doubling time 20–100 h 24–48 h 2–3 h 30 min to 1 h
Shear sensitivity High Extremely high Low Low
Oxygen uptake rate 2–10 mmol/l/h 0.05–10 mmol/l/h 10–200 mmol/l/h 10–90 mmol/l/h
Required kLα value in 10–50/h 0.25–10/h 100–1000/h 100–500/h
bioreactor operation
Protein localization Intracellular/ Secreted Intracellular/ Usually intracellular
secreted secreted
kLα : Volumetric oxygen transfer coefficient.
Data adapted from [31].

Review Xu & Zhang
the large aggregates (>1 mm) may become oxygen and plastic bags) in which plant cells are grown [105,155–156] .
nutrient deficient, resulting in adverse effects on cell So far, many different types of disposable bioreactors
growth and foreign protein production [119] . However, have been developed for plant cell cultures, including
still other research indicated the mass transfer in living wave-mixed, stirred and bubble column-styled [157] .
plant cell aggregates is actually facilitated by the mech- These disposable bioreactors and issues regarding their
anisms, which depend on metabolic activity and which scaling-up were described in greater detail in some
do not function in deactivated cells [95,154] . Therefore, recent reviews [28,156,158] .
mass transfer limit may not occur readily in living cell
aggregates. Conclusion & future perspective
General criteria for choosing a suitable bioreactor Plant cell suspension culture, which integrates the
design for plant cell culture should consider a low merits of whole plant systems with those of micro-
shear stress to cells and an adequate oxygen transfer. bial fermentation or mammalian cell culture, pro-
Bioreactors typically employed for large-scale plant vides a number of unique advantages for production
cell culture include those of stirred tank, airlift and of recombinant therapeutics. However, the commer-
bubble column [31,40,119] . Currently, increasing atten- cialization potential of this production platform has
tion has been paid to the use of disposable bioreactors long been a controversial subject in the biotechnol-
for efficient plant cell cultures. This type of bioreactor ogy industry. As the world’s first plant cell-produced
has been successfully implemented by Protalix with its human therapeutic (β-glucocerebrosidase) has become
ProCellEx™ production platform [11] . Disposable bio- a commercial success and several others are under pre-
reactors provide benefits such as high flexibility, ease clinical and clinical trials, plant cell culture can now
of handling, reduction in cross-contamination and be said to have ‘come of age’, which will usher in a
savings in both time and cost [9] , which are attributed new era in the biopharmaceutical industry. The key
to the presterility of the disposable containers (usually areas to ensure advancement of this technology will
Executive summary
Background
• Plant cell culture is emerging as an alternative bioproduction system for recombinant pharmaceuticals.
• The world’s first plant cell-made pharmaceutical used in humans, taliglucerase alfa, was approved by the US
FDA for marketing in May 2012.
• Plant cell culture is now reaching the stage at which it may challenge those established bioproduction systems.
Plant cell culture as an attractive bioproduction platform
• Plant cell culture integrates the merits of the whole plant system with those of microbial fermentation or
mammalian cell culture.
• A wide array of biologically active proteins has been successfully produced in plant cell culture.
• The plant cell-based oral delivery system offers a low-cost alternative to deliver therapeutic proteins to
combat infectious or inherited diseases.
Companies devoted to commercializing plant cell culture platform
• Dow AgroSciences (IN, USA), Phyton Biotech (NJ, USA), Protalix (Karmiel, Israel) and Greenovation Biotech
(Heilbronn, Germany) have been or are currently devoted to commercializing the plant cell culture platform.
Strategies for enhanced plant cell culture production
• Significantly improved protein expression has been achieved through enhancing gene transcription, improving
translation efficiency and reducing post-translational protein degradation.
• Enhanced protein productivity can also be achieved through optimization of bioreactor culture conditions and
development of advanced bioreactor culture strategies.
• HypGlyco technology dramatically enhances the yields of secreted proteins as high as 1500-fold.
Ongoing challenges & solutions
• In addition to low productivity, other major challenges that remain to be addressed include nonmammalian
glycosylation, genetic instability and cell culture scale-up in bioreactors.
• Nonmammalian glycosylation does not necessarily always convey a negative impact on plant cell-expressed
proteins.
• Large cell size and complex morphology represent two distinctive properties of plant cell culture that call for
special considerations in bioreactor process development.
Future perspective
• Systematic and concerted research efforts that are both biologically and engineering-based will be critical to
the commercial success of the plant cell-based bioproduction platform.

be in leveraging the molecular and process engineer- cially competitive with the currently established mam-
ing approaches to further increase the recombinant malian and microbial cell culture platforms for the
protein expression levels, to facilitate protein secretion production of recombinant biopharmaceuticals.
and prevent proteolytic degradation, to optimize bio-
reactor operational strategies for maximizing cellular Financial & competing interest disclosure
productivity and to humanize or take advantage of the This work was supported by the Arkansas Center for Plant-
unique glycans of plant glycoproteins for improved Powered Production funded through an NSF RII Arkansas
protein efficacy. In addition, continuing efforts should ASSET Initiative grant, the National Institute of Health SBIR I
be made toward utilizing the low-cost, highly efficient grant [1 R43 GM 093621–01] and the Arkansas Biosciences
and safe bioreactor configuration – disposable bioreac- Institute, the major research component of the Arkansas To-
tor – for large-scale plant cell culture, which can easily bacco Settlement Proceeds Act of 2000. The authors have no
fulfill cGMP requirements. If all the major challenges, other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any
including low protein productivity, nonmamma- organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial
lian glycosylation and genetic instability, can be met conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the
through systematic and concerted research efforts that manuscript apart from those disclosed.
are both biologically and engineering-based, there is No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this
no doubt that plant cell culture will become commer- manuscript.
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Pharmaceutical

On the way to commercializing plant cell

The term ‘biopharmaceuticals’ refers to thera- and mammalian cell-based production. It

Key terms based biopharmaceutical company (Karmiel, Israel),

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tum). In fact, these cell lines may be more favorable

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system, especially for developing countries [57] . Many Key term

Table 2. Representative plant cell-produced pharmaceutical proteins.

Anti-rabies virus mAb N. tabacum cv. Xanthi CaMV35S [15]

Anti-HIV antibody 2G12 N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [16]

Hemagglutinin-neuraminidase of N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [17]

Recombinant α-galactosidase-A D. carota CaMV35S [11]

DNase I D. carota CaMV35S [11]

Growth hormone & factor

hIL-10 N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [49]

hGM-CSF O. sativa RAmy3D [24]

hIFNα2 N. tabacum cv. BY-2 CaMV35S [22]

hEPO Physcomitrella patens PpUbq1 ‡

Human α1-antitrypsin O. sativa RAmy3D [52]

Human lactoferrin Acanthopanax senticosus SWPA2§ [53]

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2007, Phyton acquired novel glyco-engineering tech- Key term

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Mannose Fucose Xylose

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Engineer better enhancers, activators or repressors [82,83]

Improve translation efficiency Optimize 5’- and 3’-untranslated region [84,85]

Design preferred genetic codon [86,87]

Minimizing post-translational Target nascent proteins to subcellular compartments such as [88,89]

In situ remove expressed protein [31,102–103]

Optimize culture scale-up Select and/or improve bioreactor design [104–106]

Select culture strategy (e.g., batch vs fed-batch vs continuous [24,107–110]

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A Arabinogalactan polysaccharide C kDa EGFP 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 (d)

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References 10 US FDA. FDA approves new orphan drug to treat a form of

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53 Jo SH, Kwon SY, Park DS et al. High-yield production of 67 Fraunhofer IME.

61 Davoodi-Semiromi A, Schreiber M, Nalapalli S et al. 75 Greenovation Bryotechnology – Moss Inherent.

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