Chinese Hamster Cells in Biotechnological and Gerontological Research

One of the most frequently used model objects in gerontology is yeast, primarily Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Ample data indicating that the lesions in yeast undergoing chronological or stationary phase aging are similar to the age-related lesions in metazoan cells have been accumulated. However, yeast, similarly to any other study objects, also has drawbacks; in particular, although yeast cells are eukaryotes, they are evolutionarily far from mammals. This imposes limitations on the studies of non-conserved metabolic pathways in yeast. In some cases, mammalian cells (for example, Chinese hamster cells) are more suitable for chronological model experiments. They are widely used in industry for manufacturing monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins. A significant proportion of these products are produced after cessation of proliferation which initiates chronological aging of the culture. The accumulated data on the features of cell metabolism, as well as growth and duration of the functional activity of the cell culture, are extremely valuable for gerontologists. The exchange of information between these two branches—biotechnological and gerontological—will be beneficial to both of them.