Patent ID: 8354251

Claim:
A method of expressing a desired antibody in a mammalian host cell comprising the steps of: growing the mammalian host cell containing a nucleic acid, said nucleic acid comprising: a first cistron encoding a first desired antibody polypeptide under the control of a first promoter; a second cistron encoding a second desired antibody polypeptide under the control of the first promoter; a third cistron encoding a CREB protein under control of a second promoter, a fourth cistron encoding an apoptosis-protective protein under control of the second promoter or optionally under control of a third promoter, wherein said second promoter or said third promoter that controls said fourth cistron comprises a CREB-binding element; wherein the first and second cistrons are on a retroviral vector and are separated by an internal ribosome entry site (IRES), the third cistron is on the same retroviral vector or optionally on a different vector, and the fourth cistron is on the same retroviral vector or optionally on a different vector; expressing the CREB protein at a level that can cause host cell death in the absence of the apoptosis-protective protein; expressing the apoptosis-protective protein at a level to inhibit death of the host cell from the CREB protein; and expressing the antibody polypeptide in the mammalian host cell, wherein the production rate of the desired antibody is enhanced at least five-fold by the combination of the CREB protein and the apoptosis-protective protein.