Oligopeptides as External Molecular Signals Affecting Growth and Death in Animal Cell Cultures

Abstract

Protein hydrolysates in the form of oligopeptides and free amino acids are widely used in animal cell culture for the production of therapeutic proteins. The primary function of protein hydrolysates is to provide nitrogen source and at the same they may increase cell density and higher yields of proteins. It is interesting to note that some peptides exclusively increase cell density, others improve both cell density and product yield, and some peptides suppress cell growth and enhance the product yield. Thus it is very clear that oligopeptides act as external molecular signals affecting growth and death. However, the effect of peptide size and amino acid composition in the protein hydrolysates and the exact mechanism as how this is achieved is still not elucidated in animal cells. In this chapter we describe our work on the fractionation of protein hydrolysates and the use of synthetic peptides on hybridomas. This research work shed some insight about the peptide size, amino acids, concentration and composition of peptides, feeding strategies for peptides but by any means this is not complete and more work needs to be done. For example it is essential to extend this type of work with peptides larger than tetra and penta peptides and with different cell lines to elucidate the mode of action of peptides.