1.Strategic Optimization of CHO Cell Expression Platforms for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing
Rui-Ming ZHANG ; Meng-Lin LI ; Hong-Wei ZHU ; Xing-Xiao ZHANG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2026;53(2):327-341
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most established and versatile mammalian expression system for the large-scale production of recombinant therapeutic proteins, owing to their genetic stability, adaptability to serum-free suspension culture, and ability to perform human-like post-translational modifications. More than 70% of biologics approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rely on CHO-based production platforms, underscoring their central role in modern biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Despite these advantages, CHO systems continue to face three persistent bottlenecks that limit their potential for high-yield, reproducible, and cost-efficient production: excessive metabolic burden during high-density culture, heterogeneity of glycosylation patterns, and progressive loss of long-term expression stability. This review provides an integrated analysis of recent advances addressing these challenges and proposes a forward-looking framework for constructing intelligent and sustainable CHO cell factories. In terms of metabolic regulation, excessive lactate and ammonia accumulation disrupts energy balance and reduces recombinant protein synthesis efficiency. Optimization of culture parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, osmolarity, and glucose feeding can effectively alleviate metabolic stress, while supplementation with modulators including sodium butyrate, baicalein, and S-adenosylmethionine promotes specific productivity (qP) by modulating apoptosis and chromatin structure. Furthermore, genetic engineering strategies—such as overexpression of MPC1/2, HSP27, and SIRT6 or knockout of Bax, Apaf1, and IGF-1R—have demonstrated significant improvements in cell viability and product yield. The combination of multi-omics metabolic modeling with artificial intelligence (AI)-based prediction offers new opportunities for building self-regulating CHO systems capable of dynamic adaptation to environmental stress. Regarding glycosylation uniformity, which determines therapeutic efficacy and immunogenicity, gene editing-based glycoengineering (e.g., FUT8 knockdown or ST6Gal1 overexpression) has enabled the humanization of CHO glycan profiles, minimizing non-human sugar residues and enhancing drug stability. Process-level strategies such as galactose or manganese co-feeding and fine control of temperature or osmolarity further allow rational regulation of glycosyltransferase activity. Additionally, in vitro chemoenzymatic remodeling provides a complementary route to construct human-type glycans with defined structures, though industrial applications remain constrained by cost and scalability. The integration of model-driven process design and AI feedback control is expected to enable real-time prediction and correction of glycosylation deviations, ensuring batch-to-batch consistency in continuous biomanufacturing. Long-term expression stability, another critical challenge, is often impaired by promoter silencing, chromatin condensation, and random genomic integration. Molecular optimization—such as the use of improved promoters (CMV, EF-1α, or CHO endogenous promoters), Kozak and signal peptide refinement, and incorporation of chromatin-opening elements (UCOE, MAR, STAR)—helps maintain durable transcriptional activity, while site-specific integration systems including Cre/loxP, Flp/FRT, φC31, and CRISPR/Cas9 can enable single-copy, position-independent gene insertion at genomic safe-harbor loci, ensuring stable, predictable expression. Collectively, this review highlights a paradigm shift in CHO system optimization driven by the convergence of genome editing, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence. The transition from empirical optimization to rational, data-driven design will facilitate the development of programmable CHO platforms capable of autonomous regulation of metabolic flux, glycosylation fidelity, and transcriptional activity. Such intelligent cell factories are expected to accelerate the transformation from laboratory-scale research to industrial-scale, high-consistency, and economically sustainable biopharmaceutical manufacturing, thereby supporting the next generation of efficient and customizable biologics manufacturing.
2.Strategic Optimization of CHO Cell Expression Platforms for Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing
Rui-Ming ZHANG ; Meng-Lin LI ; Hong-Wei ZHU ; Xing-Xiao ZHANG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2026;53(2):327-341
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most established and versatile mammalian expression system for the large-scale production of recombinant therapeutic proteins, owing to their genetic stability, adaptability to serum-free suspension culture, and ability to perform human-like post-translational modifications. More than 70% of biologics approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rely on CHO-based production platforms, underscoring their central role in modern biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Despite these advantages, CHO systems continue to face three persistent bottlenecks that limit their potential for high-yield, reproducible, and cost-efficient production: excessive metabolic burden during high-density culture, heterogeneity of glycosylation patterns, and progressive loss of long-term expression stability. This review provides an integrated analysis of recent advances addressing these challenges and proposes a forward-looking framework for constructing intelligent and sustainable CHO cell factories. In terms of metabolic regulation, excessive lactate and ammonia accumulation disrupts energy balance and reduces recombinant protein synthesis efficiency. Optimization of culture parameters such as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, osmolarity, and glucose feeding can effectively alleviate metabolic stress, while supplementation with modulators including sodium butyrate, baicalein, and S-adenosylmethionine promotes specific productivity (qP) by modulating apoptosis and chromatin structure. Furthermore, genetic engineering strategies—such as overexpression of MPC1/2, HSP27, and SIRT6 or knockout of Bax, Apaf1, and IGF-1R—have demonstrated significant improvements in cell viability and product yield. The combination of multi-omics metabolic modeling with artificial intelligence (AI)-based prediction offers new opportunities for building self-regulating CHO systems capable of dynamic adaptation to environmental stress. Regarding glycosylation uniformity, which determines therapeutic efficacy and immunogenicity, gene editing-based glycoengineering (e.g., FUT8 knockdown or ST6Gal1 overexpression) has enabled the humanization of CHO glycan profiles, minimizing non-human sugar residues and enhancing drug stability. Process-level strategies such as galactose or manganese co-feeding and fine control of temperature or osmolarity further allow rational regulation of glycosyltransferase activity. Additionally, in vitro chemoenzymatic remodeling provides a complementary route to construct human-type glycans with defined structures, though industrial applications remain constrained by cost and scalability. The integration of model-driven process design and AI feedback control is expected to enable real-time prediction and correction of glycosylation deviations, ensuring batch-to-batch consistency in continuous biomanufacturing. Long-term expression stability, another critical challenge, is often impaired by promoter silencing, chromatin condensation, and random genomic integration. Molecular optimization—such as the use of improved promoters (CMV, EF-1α, or CHO endogenous promoters), Kozak and signal peptide refinement, and incorporation of chromatin-opening elements (UCOE, MAR, STAR)—helps maintain durable transcriptional activity, while site-specific integration systems including Cre/loxP, Flp/FRT, φC31, and CRISPR/Cas9 can enable single-copy, position-independent gene insertion at genomic safe-harbor loci, ensuring stable, predictable expression. Collectively, this review highlights a paradigm shift in CHO system optimization driven by the convergence of genome editing, synthetic biology, and artificial intelligence. The transition from empirical optimization to rational, data-driven design will facilitate the development of programmable CHO platforms capable of autonomous regulation of metabolic flux, glycosylation fidelity, and transcriptional activity. Such intelligent cell factories are expected to accelerate the transformation from laboratory-scale research to industrial-scale, high-consistency, and economically sustainable biopharmaceutical manufacturing, thereby supporting the next generation of efficient and customizable biologics manufacturing.
3.Consideration of Health Economics Evidence in Clinical Practice Guidelines: Methods and Steps
Dongrui PENG ; Qi ZHOU ; Xufei LUO ; Zijun WANG ; Hui LIU ; Junxian ZHAO ; Jinghong HUANG ; Hongyu HU ; Xin XING ; Jing WU ; Shitong XIE ; Xiaohui WANG ; Yaolong CHEN
Medical Journal of Peking Union Medical College Hospital 2026;17(3):862-870
Health economics evidence plays an important role in linking clinical value evidence with health resource allocation decisions in the development of clinical practice guidelines. It can not only effectively balance clinical effectiveness and economic feasibility but also avoid forming "idealized" recommendations that are detached from the affordability of the healthcare system or the burden-bearing capacity of patients. To promote guideline developers to use health economics evidence more standardizedly and fully, this paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the current application status, existing challenges, access channels, and application processes of health economics evidence in current guidelines, and on this basis, puts forward considerations and suggestions for strengthening and standardizing the application of health economics evidence in China's clinical practice guidelines.
4.Differential Diagnosis of Insomnia in Traditional Medicine
Aruna A ; Hasitana M ; Tsetsegdari T ; Hong Xing H ; Ankhtsatsral L ; Bold Sh
Mongolian Medical Sciences 2026;215(1):131-139
Background:
Problems related to sleep affect approximately 23-56% of the world’s population. In Mongolia,
the prevalence of non-organic sleep disorders is estimated at 27.9%, among which 42.2% of
the population have poor sleep quality. Long-term insomnia can have a negative impact on
an individual’s normal work and life, increasing the risk of various health problems. Severe
insomnia can reduce work efficiency and concentration, thereby causing serious harm.
Traditional medicine has a long history of treating insomnia. However, there are currently no
systematic studies on insomnia based on ancient traditional medical books.
Goal:
Based on the ancient medical literature of traditional medicine, identify the underlying
diseases that cause insomnia and compare their symptoms.
Materials and Methods:
We adopted the checklist method to list the relevant information of insomnia from the literature,
providing a prerequisite for further analysis and the issue of syndrome differentiation of
insomnia was analyzed by using comparison methods.
The research protocol was reviewed and approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of the
Mongolian National University of Medical Sciences at its meeting on June 24, 2025 (No. 04),
and ethical clearance was granted for the conduct of this study.
Results:
The research materials we selected did not describe insomnia as a dedicated chapter, but
mentioned the content related to insomnia in the form of disease symptoms, such as terms
like ”sleeplessness”, ”reduced sleep” and ”light sleep”. We explore the underlying diseases
of insomnia based on the above symptoms related to insomnia and analyze the syndrome
differentiation of insomnia. Exploring the underlying disease of insomnia:
1. Insomnia caused
by diseases resulting from Wind include Wind delirium, palpitations, bone marrow Wind,
heart Wind, lung Wind, Wind-induced diabetes, Wind tsbs.
2. Insomnia caused by diseases
resulting from Bile include heat Bile, heart Bile, liver sdembu, deficiency heat, Invisible heat
and epidemic heat.
3. Other diseases include mugpo spreads to the heart, heart chuser,
trichomoniasis and childhood evil spirit disease.
We also compared the symptoms of the
underlying diseases that cause insomnia and listed their similarities and differences.
Conclusion
The underlying etiologies of insomnia were categorized into Wind, Bile, Mugpo, yellow fluid,
parasitic and evil spirit disorders. Accordingly, effective management of insomnia requires
differentiation based on the primary disease and an individualized treatment approach that
integrates both etiological and symptomatic therapies.
5.Role of exosomal miR-320c in gingerol-mediated defense against Staphylococcus aureus infection
Zhencai XING ; Mengxue XU ; Xiang KONG ; Jinghan SUN ; Zhen MA ; Yu GAO ; Siyuan DU ; Hong ZHENG ; Yakun LIU
Acta Universitatis Medicinalis Anhui 2026;61(5):795-802
ObjectiveTo investigate the inhibitory effect of gingerol, an active component of ginger, on Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection, and to preliminarily explore its mechanism related to extracellular vesicles (EVs). MethodsS.aureus infection models were established in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVECs), Vero E6 cells, and C57BL/6 mice. Experimental groups included control, infection, and gingerol-treated groups. Bacterial load and VE-cadherin protein expression were detected using immunofluorescence and Western blot. EVs were isolated by size exclusion chromatography and characterized by transmission electron microscopy and nanoparticle tracking analysis. miRNA sequencing was performed on EVs. ResultsGingerol treatment significantly reduced the bacterial load in both in vitro and in vivo infection models and upregulated VE-cadherin expression. miRNA sequencing of EVs revealed that S. aureus infection upregulated the expression of hsa-miR-320c, while gingerol treatment reversed this abnormal expression. Bioinformatic analysis further predicted that the target genes of hsa-miR-320c were significantly enriched in cell junction-related pathways. ConclusionGingerol exhibits clear antibacterial and host-protective effects, by regulating hsa-miR-320c in EVs to maintain endothelial barrier integrity.
6.Role of myeloid cell transcription factor EB in alcohol-induced liver injury in mice
Sha Neisha Williams ; Kafayat Yusuf ; Xiaojuan Chao ; Hong-Min Ni ; Wen-Xing Ding
Liver Research 2026;10(1):71-81
Background and aims
Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality worldwide, with no currently effective treatment. ALD is caused by excessive lipid buildup, which eventually triggers inflammation and fibrosis in the liver. Activation of hepatic Kupffer cells (KCs) and macrophages drives liver inflammation, which can worsen alcohol-induced liver injury. The autophagy-lysosome system is crucial for macrophages to support their innate immune functions. Transcription factor EB (TFEB) is a key regulator of autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis, but the role of macrophage TFEB in ALD development is unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of Gao-binge alcohol consumption on myeloid cell TFEB and elucidate the role of myeloid TFEB in ALD.
Methods
Two-to-three-month-old male and female LysM Cre− (WT) and LysM Cre+ Tfeb Flox/Flox (f/f) (myeloid-Tfeb KO) mice were subjected to chronic alcohol feeding plus an acute binge following the Gao-binge model. Serum alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, triglycerides, and cholesterol content were determined using biochemical assays. Total hepatic protein content and messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of autophagy-related proteins and inflammatory markers were determined using immunoblotting, immunohistochemistry, and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Isolated hepatic infiltrating macrophages and KCs from mice given intragastric ethanol infusions were analyzed by Western blot for TFEB and autophagy-related protein content. Raw 264.7 macrophages were treated with ethanol, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and LPS plus ethanol to examine nuclear TFEB translocation using immunofluorescence.
Results
We found that TFEB levels were higher in macrophage/KC cells than in hepatocytes and cholangiocytes. While ethanol feeding increased serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase levels, as well as hepatic triglyceride levels, no significant differences were observed between WT and myeloid-Tfeb KO mice. The number of F4/80-positive KCs/macrophages was similar in all four experimental groups, but hepatic neutrophil infiltration increased in alcohol-fed myeloid-Tfeb KO mice. LPS or ethanol alone induced nuclear TFEB translocation only moderately in Raw 264.7 macrophages.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that myeloid TFEB is dispensable for alcohol-induced liver injury in mice.
7.Alternative Polyadenylation in Mammalian
Yu ZHANG ; Hong-Xia CHI ; Wu-Ri-Tu YANG ; Yong-Chun ZUO ; Yong-Qiang XING
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(1):32-49
With the rapid development of sequencing technologies, the detection of alternative polyadenylation (APA) in mammals has become more precise. APA precisely regulates gene expression by altering the length and position of the poly(A) tail, and is involved in various biological processes such as disease occurrence and embryonic development. The research on APA in mammals mainly focuses on the following aspects:(1) identifying APA based on transcriptome data and elucidating their characteristics; (2) investigating the relationship between APA and gene expression regulation to reveal its important role in life regulation;(3) exploring the intrinsic connections between APA and disease occurrence, embryonic development, differentiation, and other life processes to provide new perspectives and methods for disease diagnosis and treatment, as well as uncovering embryonic development regulatory mechanisms. In this review, the classification, mechanisms and functions of APA were elaborated in detail and the methods for APA identifying and APA data resources based on various transcriptome data were systematically summarized. Moreover, we epitomized and provided an outlook on research on APA, emphasizing the role of sequencing technologies in driving studies on APA in mammals. In the future, with the further development of sequencing technology, the regulatory mechanisms of APA in mammals will become clearer.
8.Enzyme-directed Immobilization Strategies for Biosensor Applications
Xing-Bao WANG ; Yao-Hong MA ; Yun-Long XUE ; Xiao-Zhen HUANG ; Yue SHAO ; Yi YU ; Bing-Lian WANG ; Qing-Ai LIU ; Li-He ZHANG ; Wei-Li GONG
Progress in Biochemistry and Biophysics 2025;52(2):374-394
Immobilized enzyme-based enzyme electrode biosensors, characterized by high sensitivity and efficiency, strong specificity, and compact size, demonstrate broad application prospects in life science research, disease diagnosis and monitoring, etc. Immobilization of enzyme is a critical step in determining the performance (stability, sensitivity, and reproducibility) of the biosensors. Random immobilization (physical adsorption, covalent cross-linking, etc.) can easily bring about problems, such as decreased enzyme activity and relatively unstable immobilization. Whereas, directional immobilization utilizing amino acid residue mutation, affinity peptide fusion, or nucleotide-specific binding to restrict the orientation of the enzymes provides new possibilities to solve the problems caused by random immobilization. In this paper, the principles, advantages and disadvantages and the application progress of enzyme electrode biosensors of different directional immobilization strategies for enzyme molecular sensing elements by specific amino acids (lysine, histidine, cysteine, unnatural amino acid) with functional groups introduced based on site-specific mutation, affinity peptides (gold binding peptides, carbon binding peptides, carbohydrate binding domains) fused through genetic engineering, and specific binding between nucleotides and target enzymes (proteins) were reviewed, and the application fields, advantages and limitations of various immobilized enzyme interface characterization techniques were discussed, hoping to provide theoretical and technical guidance for the creation of high-performance enzyme sensing elements and the manufacture of enzyme electrode sensors.
9.Research Progress of Molecular Probes Driven by Tumor Boundary Imaging
Wen-Zhi REN ; Juan LI ; Jun-Lie YAO ; Jie XING ; Hong-Ying BAO ; Li SUN ; Ai-Guo WU
Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry 2025;53(1):14-26
″Boundarics in biomedicine″(or″Biomedical boundarics″)is an emerging frontier interdisciplinary subject that focuses on addressing key scientific issues related to the formation,identification,and evolution of biological boundaries within living organisms.In this field,the study of tumor boundaries is of particular importance.Imaging tumor boundaries not only helps to reveal the molecular mechanisms of tumor boundary evolution and interaction with the microenvironment,tumor invasion and metastasis,but is also crucial for clinical tumor diagnosis,treatment decision-making,efficacy monitoring and prognosis evaluation.Molecular probes,as functional substances that enhance imaging signals,play a crucial role in tumor boundary recognition.In this article,the basic concepts and research significance of boundarics in biomedicine and tumor boundarics in biomedicine were summarized firstly.Then a comprehensive review of the research progress in tumor boundary imaging molecular probes was provided,covering areas such as magnetic imaging,optical imaging,acoustic imaging,nuclear imaging,and multimodal imaging.The strategies to regulate the sensitivity,specificity,and safety of molecular probes through chemical structure modifications,conjugation with targeting ligands,and tumor microenvironment-responsive designs were emphasized.Finally,the research trends of molecular probes for tumor boundary imaging were analyzed,and the challenges faced in this field and the future research directions were discussed.
10.Investigation of Proteomic Mechanisms of Luteolin's Inhibition on Growth of Colorectal Cancer SW620 Cells
Jia-Wei ZHAO ; Bo MENG ; Ao LU ; Zi-Xing HAN ; Zi-Hong YE ; Yang ZHAO
Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry 2025;53(2):258-268,中插18-中插19
With the continuous rise in the incidence of colorectal cancer and the trend towards younger patient population,the existing treatment options,while able to prolong survival,are difficult to avoid significant side effects.It is imperative to develop new treatment strategies.Luteolin(LUT),as a natural herbal active ingredient,has been proved to have broad-spectrum anti-tumor effects in studies of multiple cancer types.However,the mechanism of LUT action in colorectal cancer has not been systematically elucidated.In this study,for the first time,the molecular mechanism of LUT on colorectal cancer SW620 cells from the perspective of proteomics-glycoproteomics co-regulation was revealed.Proteomic analysis identified 472 differentially expressed proteins.Functional enrichment analysis showed that down-regulated proteins were mainly involved in oxidative stress response,mRNA processing,RNA splicing,and actin filament organization among key biological processes,involving oxidative phosphorylation and peroxisome pathways.Up-regulated proteins were mainly involved in DNA replication,protein folding,and rRNA metabolism,closely related to DNA replication and protein processing pathways in the endoplasmic reticulum.At the level of glycoproteomics,231 differentially expressed intact N-glycopeptides were identified.Functional enrichment analysis of corresponding glycoproteins indicateed that LUT might exert biological effects by regulating biological processes such as nuclear organization,nuclear membrane organization,and Fc receptor-mediated signaling pathways,as well as endoplasmic reticulum protein processing and N-glycan biosynthesis pathways.Analysis of key interaction networks revealed 5 core target proteins namely RPS15A,WDR43,FBL,UTP18,and UTP11.The loss of these proteins had been confirmed to inhibit the proliferation and migration of various tumor cells.Notably,altered glycosylation modifications of the lysosome-associated membrane proteins LAMP1 and LAMP2 suggested that LUT might affect tumor metastatic potential by regulating organelle dynamics.It was found that LUT could inhibit the malignant phenotype of colon cancer cells through a dual mechanism of specifically regulating protein expression networks and glycosylation modification patterns,providing new molecular targets and theoretical basis for precise treatment of colorectal cancer based on natural products.


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