Ras amplification in BHK-21 cells produces a host cell line for further rapid establishment of recombinant protein hyper-producing cell lines.

To rapidly establish recombinant protein hyper-producing cell lines we introduced a reporter plasmid into BHK-21 cells that had been 'primed' by transfection and amplification of the ras oncogene. The reporter plasmid used carries the human interleukin-6 (hIL-6) gene which is under control of the human cytomegalovirus immediate early promoter. The primed BHK cell lines were shown to produce many stable hIL-6 hyper-producing cells achieving about 15 times higher productivity than the control BHK-21 cells.