Improvement of Industrial Cell Culture Processes by Caspase-9 Dominant Negative and Other Apoptotic Inhibitors

In spite of the progress in apoptosis research, current knowledge of the molecular mechanism of programmed cell death is limited. It is likely that novel pathways and regulators will be elucidated and new targets for intervention will become available. As discussed in this review, work in many laboratories has indicated that manipulating the apoptosis machinery can, indeed, result in suppression of apoptosis and an extension of the productive lifetime of the cell culture, leading to an increase in volumetric productivity. These results indicate that future discoveries that will enable use of improved strategies for cell survival have a great potential for further improvement and optimization of industrial processes.