Ana Carina Silva

Screening of Novel Excipients for Improving the Stability of Retroviral and Adenoviral Vectors

In the past decade there has been an increase in the application of viral vectors in the laboratory and clinical trials of human gene therapy, retroviral and adenoviral vectors among the most used. However, the limited stability of these vectors creates problems in the design of experiments, transport, and storage. Vectors stored at –80 °C must be quickly shipped on dry ice, which is somewhat cumbersome. Alternatively, viral vectors can be preserved in a lyophilized form. However, loss of viral activity during lyophilization can also be a serious problem. In this report we identify novel candidate formulations containing new compatible solutes, ectoin, hydroxyectoin, and firoin, that allow better stability of retroviral and adenoviral vectors during storage. For retroviral vectors, the maximum stabilization for long‐term storage was achieved through lyophilization followed by storage at –20 °C using a formulation of Tris buffer pH 7.2 containing firoin (0.5 M), a half‐life of 340 days being obtained. Adenoviral vectors storage at –80 °C in solution using Tris buffer pH 8.0 with firoin was the best method for long‐term storage, with a half‐life exceeding 1 year.

Adenovirus Vector Production and Purification

Replication deficient adenovirus vectors are frequently used tools for the delivery of transgenes in vitro and in vivo. In addition, several therapeutic products based on adenovirus are under clinical development. This review outlines adenovirus vector production discussing different vector types, available production cell lines and state of the art of production process development and purification.

293 cell cycle synchronisation adenovirus vector production

As the market requirements for adenovirus vectors (AdV) increase, the maximisation of the virus titer per culture volume per unit time is a key requirement. However, despite the fact that 293 cells can grow up to 8 × 106 cell/mL in simple batch mode operations, for optimal AdV infection a maximum cell density of 1 × 106 cell/mL at infection time has usually been utilized due to the so called “cell density effect”. In addition, AdV titer appears to be dependent upon cell cycle phase at the time of infection. To evaluate the dependence of AdV production upon cell cycle phase, 293 cells were chemically synchronised at each phase of the cell cycle; a 2.6‐fold increase on AdV cell specific titer was obtained when the percentage of cells at the S phase of the cell cycle was increased from 36 to 47%; a mathematical equation was used to relate AdV cell specific productivities with cell synchronisation at the S phase using this data. To avoid the use of chemical inhibitors, a temperature shift strategy was also used for synchronisation at the S phase. S phase synchronisation was obtained by decreasing the culture temperature to 31°C during 67 h and restoring it to 37°C during 72 h. By using this strategy we were able to synchronise 57% of the population in the S phase of the cell cycle obtaining an increase of 7.3‐fold on AdV cell specific titer after infection.

Strategies for improved stability of Peste des Petits Ruminants Vaccine

The main focus of this work was the improvement of the stability of the current PPRV vaccine. First, new formulations based on the Tris buffer were tested, with and without the addition of sucrose and trehalose and compared with the formulation normally used to stabilize the vaccine, the Weybridge medium. The results show a virus half-life of 21 h at 37°C and 1 month at 4°C for the Tris/trehalose liquid formulation and, in the lyophilized form, the formulation was able to maintain the viral titer above the 1 × 10(4) TCID(50)/mL (>10 doses/mL) for at least 21 months at 4°C (0.6 log lost), 144 h at 37°C (0.6 log lost) and 120 h at 45°C (1 log lost). Secondly, a strategy based on culture medium composition manipulation aiming at improving the intrinsic PPRV vaccine stability was also evaluated. The addition of 25 mM fructose resulted in a higher virus production (1log increase) with higher stability (2.6-fold increase compared to glucose 25 mM) at 37°C. Increased concentrations of NaCl, improved virus release, reducing the cell-associated fraction of the virus produced. Moreover this harvesting strategy is scalable and more suitable for a larger scale production than the freeze/thaw cycles normally used. The information gathered in this work showed that it is possible for the PPRV vaccine to have adequate short-term stability at non-freezing temperatures to support manufacturing, short-term shipping and storage. The identification of a more stable formulation should significantly enhance the utility of the vaccine in the control of a PPRV outbreak.

Scalable culture systems using different cell lines for the production of Peste des Petits ruminants vaccine

Peste des Petits ruminants (PPR) is considered as one of the major constraints to the productivity of small ruminants in Africa and Asian countries. Currently PPR control is done by vaccination with an attenuated PPR strain (Nigeria 75/1) produced in monolayers of Vero cells grown in roller bottles or static flasks. This work focuses on the production of a PPR vaccine strain using stirred conditions as an advanced option for process scale-up. Non-porous microcarriers (Cytodex-1) were used to support Vero cell growth in suspension cultures. The use of Ex-Cell medium could improve cell specific productivities obtained with standard serum containing medium, independently of the type of system used, i.e. static as well as suspension stirred cultures. As an alternative, several cell lines adapted to grow as single cells in suspension (CHO-K1, BHK-21A and 293) and another anchorage-dependent (MRC-5) were evaluated in their capacity to produce a PPR vaccine. BHK-21A and 293 cells grown as single-cell suspension in serum free medium were both suited to produce PPR vaccine with productivities similar to Vero cells, namely 10(6)TCID(50)/mL. However, for the 293 cells, these results were only obtained 2-3 days later. CHO-K1 and MRC-5 cells have shown not to be suitable to adequately produce this virus. These results provide further insights into the feasibility of applying microcarrier cell culture technology to produce PPR vaccine in Vero cells as well as in the alternative use of single-cell suspension cultures of BHK-21A, significantly simplifying the existing production process.

1 H-NMR Protocol for Exometabolome Analysis of Cultured Mammalian Cells

(1)H-Nuclear magnetic resonance ((1)H-NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful technique to analyze the composition of complex mixtures based on the particular proton fingerprint of each molecule. Here we describe a protocol for exometabolome analysis of mammalian cells using this technique, including sample preparation, spectra acquisition, and integration. The potential of this technique is exemplified by application to cultures of a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line. The average error associated to this method is under 3% and the limit of quantification for all metabolites analyzed is below 180 μM.

Scalable Production of Adenovirus Vectors

Recombinant adenoviruses (AdV) are highly efficient at gene transfer for a broad spectrum of cell types and species. They became one of the vectors of choice for gene delivery and expression of foreign proteins in gene therapy and vaccination purposes. To meet the need of significant amounts of adenoviral vectors for preclinical and possibly clinical uses, scalable and reproducible production processes are required.In this chapter, we review processes used for scalable production of two types of first generation (E1-deleted) adenoviral vectors (Human and Canine) using stirred tank bioreactors. The production of adenovirus vectors using either suspension (HEK 293) or anchorage-dependent cells (MDCK-E1) are described to exemplify scalable production processes with different cell-culture types. The downstream processes will be covered in the next chapter.

Viruses and Virus-Like Particles in Biotechnology: Fundamentals and Applications

Although viruses are simple biological systems, they are capable of evolving highly efficient techniques for infecting cells, expressing their genomes, and generating new copies of themselves. It is possible to genetically manipulate most of the different classes of known viruses in order to produce recombinant viruses that express foreign proteins. Recombinant viruses have been used in gene therapy to deliver selected genes into higher organisms, in vaccinology and immunotherapy, and as important research tools to study the structure and function of these proteins. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are multiprotein structures that mimic the organization and conformation of authentic native viruses but lack the viral genome. They have been applied not only as prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines but also as vehicles in drug and gene delivery and, more recently, as tools in nanobiotechnology. In this article, basic and advanced features of viruses and VLPs are presented and their major applications are discussed. The different production platforms based on animal cell technology are explained, and their main challenges and future perspectives are explored. The implications of large-scale production of viruses and VLPs are discussed in the context of process control, monitorization, and optimization. The main upstream and downstream technical challenges are identified and discussed accordingly. Abstract Although viruses are simple biological systems, they are capable of evolving highly efficient techniques for infecting cells, expressing their genomes, and generating new copies of themselves. It is possible to genetically manipulate most of the different classes of known viruses in order to produce recombinant viruses that express foreign proteins. Recombinant viruses have been used in gene therapy to deliver selected genes into higher organisms, in vaccinology and immunotherapy, and as important research tools to study the structure and function of these proteins. Virus-like particles (VLPs) are multiprotein structures that mimic the organization and conformation of authentic native viruses but lack the viral genome. They have been applied not only as prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines but also as vehicles in drug and gene delivery and, more recently, as tools in nanobiotechnology. In this article, basic and advanced features of viruses and VLPs are presented and their major applications are discussed. The different production platforms based on animal cell technology are explained, and their main challenges and future perspectives are explored. The implications of large-scale production of viruses and VLPs are discussed in the context of process control, monitorization, and optimization. The main upstream and downstream technical challenges are identified and discussed accordingly.

Human neuron-astrocyte 3D co-culture-based assay for evaluation of neuroprotective compounds.

INTRODUCTION Central nervous system drug development has registered high attrition rates, mainly due to the lack of efficacy of drug candidates, highlighting the low reliability of the models used in early-stage drug development and the need for new in vitro human cell-based models and assays to accurately identify and validate drug candidates. 3D human cell models can include different tissue cell types and represent the spatiotemporal context of the original tissue (co-cultures), allowing the establishment of biologically-relevant cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix interactions. Nevertheless, exploitation of these 3D models for neuroprotection assessment has been limited due to the lack of data to validate such 3D co-culture approaches. METHODS In this work we combined a 3D human neuron-astrocyte co-culture with a cell viability endpoint for the implementation of a novel in vitro neuroprotection assay, over an oxidative insult. Neuroprotection assay robustness and specificity, and the applicability of Presto Blue, MTT and CytoTox-Glo viability assays to the 3D co-culture were evaluated. RESULTS Presto Blue was the adequate endpoint as it is non-destructive and is a simpler and reliable assay. Semi-automation of the cell viability endpoint was performed, indicating that the assay setup is amenable to be transferred to automated screening platforms. Finally, the neuroprotection assay setup was applied to a series of 36 test compounds and several candidates with higher neuroprotective effect than the positive control, Idebenone, were identified. DISCUSSION The robustness and simplicity of the implemented neuroprotection assay with the cell viability endpoint enables the use of more complex and reliable 3D in vitro cell models to identify and validate drug candidates.

Testing a new formulation for Peste des Petits Ruminants vaccine in Ethiopia

In this paper extended tests on a new candidate formulation for Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) vaccine carried out at National Veterinary Institute (NVI) in Ethiopia are presented. This work was performed in the frame of the VACNADA project from GALVmed which aimed at procuring vaccines against neglected veterinary diseases to African vaccine producing laboratories, in particular PPR. After the eradication of Rinderpest, Peste des Petits Ruminants became the next veterinary disease on target for elimination, requiring an effective and thermostable vaccine. In this work a Tris/Trehalose formulation was evaluated in thermal stability studies in comparison to the current used formulation of the live attenuated PPR vaccine, the Weybridge medium. The extended results presented herein show an increased thermal stability of the vaccine, especially at 37 and 45 °C, as expected from previously published results (Silva A.C. et al., 2011). Furthermore, during the course of this project, the NVI teams have clearly demonstrated ability to produce higher quality PPR vaccines after a successful transfer of the technology. These results should significantly enhance the utility of the vaccine in the eradication of PPR.