Study of the improved Sf9 transient gene expression process

Insect cells have been widely used for the production of recombinant proteins using recombinant baculovirus for gene delivery [1]. To simplify protein production in insect cells, we have previously described a method, based on transient gene expression (TGE) with cultures of suspension-adapted Sf9 cells using polyethylenimine (PEI) for DNA delivery [2]. Expression of GFP has been realized at high efficiency and a tumor necrosis factor receptor-Fc fusion protein (TNFR-Fc) was produced at a level of 40 mg/L. However, the efficiency of the insect cells TGE system has not been studied and further opti- mization may improve protein titers. Here, we studied the efficiency of PEI for plasmid delivery in Sf9 cells.