Today cell line development technology is indispensable in pharmaceutical drug manufacturing and in creating new and better therapies. But where did it all start? Let’s have a look at the history of cell line development.
Cell – artistic concept.
Development of Cell Cultures:
Starting from the beginning would mean going all the way back to when the cell was first discovered by Robert Hooke in 1665. Let’s fast forward to the direct ancestors of cell lines i.e. Cell Cultures.
It all started with Wilhelm Roux in 1885, who kept the embryo cells of a chicken alive in a basic saline solution. The cells survived multiple days giving the basic principle of cell cultures. But the first evidence was seen in 1907 when Ross Granville grew frog nerve fibres outside the body. The technology evolved through the years until in 1943, the first ever mouse fibroblast cell line was established.
Cell Cultures Transformed Into Cell Lines:
Cell lines are the cultures of cells that can be propagated repeatedly, extensively, and sometimes, indefinitely. The journey of cells to live outside the body, to grow outside the body, and then to grow indefinitely outside the body, gave birth to the concept of cell lines.
Development of Human Cell Lines:
In the 1950s biological technology and science were all over the cell lines. The efforts resulted in the production of the first cell line ever – from the cells of a human suffering from cervical cancer. It opened up a huge door of opportunity — a potential for developing recombinant proteins for pharmaceutical therapies using human cells as a better source than mammalian expression systems.
Although the theory was simple enough, using human cell lines had major drawbacks including delayed acceptance, low yield, and huge investment. Human cell lines are used in the development of vaccines today.
CHO Cell Lines – Face of Technology:
Chinese Hamster Ovary cell lines certainly seem an odd choice but it changes the cell line technology forever. CHO cells not only solved the problem of complicated mammalian expression systems but also brought to the table the simplicity of lower organism systems. CHO cell lines are the face of cell line technology today.
Technologies That Brought About the Modern Day:
A microscope – illustrative photo.
The history of cell cultures, cell lines, and CHO cells brings us to the present day. The many technological advancements that are innovating the cell line development industry are as follows:
- Protein Expression Technology: It has made the study of gene regulation, protein structure, and function easy. The advancements in ribosome entry, selection markers, and artificial chromosome expression have become easier.
- Flow Cytometer: It analyses individual cells and sorts them based on laser optic light scatter which increases efficiency.
- Transfection: Recent technologies increase cell viability after the transfection process.
- Fluorescence Cell Sorting: It allows for better homogeneous samples by correctly tagging the cells to be sorted.
The Future:
The history of cell line technology is rich and its future is even brighter. Pharmaceutical companies such as Wheeler / cell line development and CRISPR technologies have taken the responsibility of leading the charge to make cell line development better and more usable. Let’s see what the future brings!