A study of fermentation for human interleukin-11 with recombinant E-Coli

Recombinant human interleukin-11(rhIL-11) is still the only therapy drug for thrombocytopenia. Although the biological properties and clinical behaviors of rhIL-11 have been studied extensively, its bioprocess development data have rarely been reported. In this work, fermentation conditions for recombinant E. coli, which expressed interleukin-11 as a fusion protein, were investigated. Batch and fed-batch fermentation experiments were performed in shake flasks and in a BioFlo fermenter with different medium and carbon sources under different operational parameters. Based on the results of the study, M9Ca medium was shown as the better medium and glycerol was identified to be a better carbon source than glucose for the expression of rhIL-11. When glycerol was used as the carbon source in fed-batch fermentation, a dry cell weight of 9.2 g/L and a rhIL-11 expression of 22%, were achieved. The results could be used as references in the optimization of the fermentation process.