Peptonics: Shear protection and foam prevention in mammalian cell cultures producing monoclonal antibodies and viral vectors for gene therapy

Biologics produced by cell culture are central to modern pharmaceutical production. In this context, the surfactants added to culture media for protecting cells from shear are essential for ensuring product yield and quality. Commercial surfactants exhibit lot-to-lot variability, which has caused failures in production campaigns. Addressing this issue, our team introduced Peptonics, a family of peptidic surfactants that offer comparable tensioactivity to Pluronics while improving cell productivity and removing foaming issues. Peptonics were originally demonstrated on model Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells cultured in stirred-tank bioreactors and different growth media. Herein, we extend the application of Peptonic ih-T1010 to other CHO and HEK293 cells producing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and adeno-associated virus (AAVs) in selected media. In fed-batch bioreactors, ih-T1010 supported peak viable CHO cell densities up to 1.3·10⁷ cells·mL^-1, comparable to Poloxamer F68 (1.35·10⁷ cells·mL^-1) and significantly higher than surfactant-free controls. Final mAb titers achieved using ih-T1010 (4.0-7.5 g·L^-1) were on par with those obtained with Poloxamer F68 (4.5-7.3 g·L^-1), with no significant difference in product glycosylation or aggregation profiles. Performance robustness was confirmed across three commercial media and an additional CHO cell line, where ih-T1010 consistently supported cell growth and productivity within 5% of Poloxamer F68. When tested on HEK293 cells expressing AAV9, both surfactant yielded titers of 1.4-1.6 · 10¹² vp·mL^-1 and maintained cell viability > 90% throughout the cultures. Notably, ih-T1010 eliminated foam formation, enabling antifoam-free operation, whereas Poloxamer-containing cultures required antifoam to avoid foam-out risks. Finally, the choice of surfactant did not affect the performance of affinity resins, as the binding capacity, yield, and purity remained equivalent for both mAbs and AAVs.