Patrick V. Gurgel

Reduction in infectivity of endogenous transmissible spongiform encephalopathies present in blood by adsorption to selective affinity resins

BACKGROUND Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE) can be contracted through blood transfusion. Selective adsorption of the causative agent from donated blood might be one of the best ways of managing this risk. In our study, affinity resin L13, which reduces brain-derived infectivity spiked into human red blood cell concentrate by around 4 log(10)ID(50), and its equivalent, L13A, produced on a manufacturing scale, were assessed for their ability to remove TSE infectivity endogenously present in blood. METHODS 500 mL of scrapie-infected hamster whole blood was leucoreduced at full scale before passage through the affinity resins. Infectivity of whole blood, leucoreduced whole blood (challenge), and the recovered blood from each flow-through was measured by limiting dilution titration. FINDINGS Leucoreduction removed 72% of input infectivity. 15 of 99 animals were infected by the challenge, whereas none of the 96 or 100 animals inoculated with the final flow-throughs from either resin developed the disease after 540 days. The limit of detection of the bioassay was 0.2 infectious doses per mL. The overall reduction of the challenge infectivity was more than 1.22 log10ID. The results showed removal of endogenous TSE infectivity from leucoreduced whole blood by affinity ligands. The same resins adsorb normal and abnormal prion protein from human infections with variant, sporadic, and familial Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, in the presence of blood components. INTERPRETATION TSE affinity ligands, when incorporated into appropriate devices, can be used to mitigate the risks from TSE-infected blood, blood products, and other materials exposed to TSE infectivity.

Purification of human immunoglobulin G via Fc-specific small peptide ligand affinity chromatography

Chromatographic resins of a family of linear Fc-binding hexamer peptides (HWRGWV, HYFKFD, and HFRRHL) exhibited the ability to selectively adsorb and isolate human IgG (hIgG) from complete mammalian cell culture medium (cMEM). Among them, the HWRGWV resin with a peptide density of 0.08 mequiv./g of resin was able to purify hIgG from cMEM with both purity and yield as high as 95%, comparable to Protein A and A2P agarose gels. The influences of N-terminal acetylation of the HWRGWV resin, ligand density on the resin, initial hIgG concentration, and temperature on IgG isolation were also investigated. The results indicate that these small peptide ligands, especially HWRGWV, offer a potential alternative to the use of Protein A or Protein G for large scale affinity chromatography.

Performance of hexamer peptide ligands for affinity purification of immunoglobulin G from commercial cell culture media.

Previous work has reported on the identification and characterization of the hexapeptide ligands HWRGWV, HYFKFD, and HFRRHL for the affinity capture of IgG through specific binding to its Fc fragment. This paper addresses issues related to the successful application of these ligands, on a commercial methacrylate chromatographic resin, for the purification of IgG from mammalian cell culture fluids. The concentrations of sodium chloride and sodium caprylate in the binding buffer were optimized to maximize the purity and yield of IgG upon elution. Screening of several regeneration conditions found that either 2M guanidine-HCl or a combination of 0.85% phosphoric acid followed by 2M urea resulted in complete recovery of the IgG adsorption capacity and that the column could be reused over many cycles. The hexapeptide ligands were used for the purification of humanized and chimeric monoclonal antibodies from two commercial CHO cell culture fluids. The chimeric MAb of IgG1 subclass was purified using the HWRGWV resin whereas the humanized MAb of IgG4 subclass was purified using the HWRGWV, HYFKFD and HFRRHL resins. The purities and yields obtained for both the MAbs were found to be higher than 94% and 85% respectively. These results compare well with the yields and purities obtained using Protein G columns. The residual DNA and host cell protein reduction obtained by the HWRGWV resin was in the range of 4 log reduction value (LRV) and 2 LRV respectively, comparable to those reported for Protein A resins. The dynamic binding capacity of all three peptide resins for the humanized monoclonal antibody was in the range of 20mg/mL.

Reduction of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy infectivity from human red blood cells with prion protein affinity ligands

BACKGROUND:  There is a demonstrated risk of infection by transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) through transfusion from asymptomatic donors. Currently, blood‐borne TSE infectivity cannot be detected with a diagnostic test, nor is it likely to be amenable to inactivation; however, its depletion with specific adsorp‐tive ligand resins is possible.

Binding site on human immunoglobulin G for the affinity ligand HWRGWV

Affinity ligand HWRGWV has demonstrated the ability to isolate human immunoglobulin G (hIgG) from mammalian cell culture media. The ligand specifically binds hIgG through its Fc portion. This work shows that deglycosylation of hIgG has no influence on its binding to the HWRGWV ligand and the ligand does not compete with Protein A or Protein G in binding hIgG. It is suggested by the mass spectrometry (MS) data and docking simulation that HWRGWV binds to the pFc portion of hIgG and interacts with the amino acids in the loop Ser383–Asn389 (SNGQPEN) located in the CH3 domain. Subsequent modeling has suggested a possible three‐dimensional minimized solution structure for the interaction of hIgG and the HWRGWV ligand. The results support the fact that a peptide as small as a hexamer can have specific interactions with large proteins such as hIgG. Copyright

Process for purification of monoclonal antibody expressed in transgenic Lemna plant extract using dextran-coated charcoal and hexamer peptide affinity resin.

The production of therapeutic proteins using transgenic plants offers several advantages, including low production cost, absence of human pathogens, presence of glycosylation mechanisms, and the ability to fold complex therapeutic proteins into their proper conformation. However, impurities such as phenolic compounds and pigments encountered during purification are quite different from those faced during purification from mammalian cell culture supernatants. This paper deals with the development of a pretreatment and affinity separation process for the purification of a monoclonal antibody from transgenic Lemna plant extract. A pretreatment step is described using dextran-coated charcoal for the removal of pigments and phenolic compounds without reducing the antibody concentration. Then, the peptide affinity ligand HWRGWV coupled to a commercial polymethacrylate resin is used for the capture and purification of MAb from the pretreated plant extract. The final yield and purity of the MAb obtained were 90% and 96% respectively. The performance of the hexamer peptide resin after the pretreatment step was found to be similar to that obtained with a commercial Protein A resin.

Fractionation of whey proteins with a hexapeptide ligand affinity resin

The isolation of individual proteins from whey would allow production of more consistent and reliable products by the food industry and possibly would also increase their use in the pharmaceutical industry. α-Lactalbumin is the second most prevalent protein in bovine milk whey and has many uses including serving as an excellent protein source in infant formulas, power drinks and other beverages that require soluble, nutritional protein. In this study, we describe two methods for production of α-lactalbumin from whey protein isolate using bioselective adsorption. The use of a peptide ligand (WHWRKR) attached to a resin allowed production of an α-lactalbumin-rich fraction with a purity of 90.6% and a recovery of 47.9%, while also producing other fractions of commercial interest. The combined use of an amino resin followed by the WHWRKR resin produce a highly purified α-lactalbumin (100%) with a yield of 35.2%.

Purification of polyclonal antibodies from Cohn fraction II + III, skim milk, and whey by affinity chromatography using a hexamer peptide ligand.

HWRGWV, a peptide that binds specifically to the Fc fragment of human immunoglobulin G (IgG), was used for the purification of IgG from Cohn fraction II + III of human plasma and from bovine skim milk and whey. The concentration of sodium chloride and sodium caprylate in the binding buffer as well as the pH of the elution buffer were optimized to achieve high IgG yield and purity. Under optimized conditions, IgG was recovered from plasma fractions with yield and purity up to 84% and 95%, respectively. IgG was also purified from skim milk with 74% yield and 92% purity and from whey with 85% yield and 93% purity. Purification experiments were also performed with Protein A resin and the results were found to be similar to those obtained with the peptide adsorbent.

Alkaline-stable peptide ligand affinity adsorbents for the purification of biomolecules.

A strategy of modification of resin surface chemistry is presented to produce hydrophilic peptide-based alkaline-stable affinity adsorbents for the purification of biopharmaceuticals from complex media. In this work, the peptide-based affinity adsorbent HWRGWV-Toyopearl resin for the purification of IgG is presented as an example. When prepared by direct peptide synthesis on the chromatographic matrix, the peptide-based resin showed lability under alkaline conditions. In fact, the regeneration with aqueous 0.1 M NaOH caused the leaching of 40% of the peptide ligand, resulting in a decrease of IgG yield from 85% to 23%. It was found that the ligand leaching was caused by the coupling of a significant amount of peptide by alkaline-labile ester bonds. A method was designed to prevent the formation of ester bonds and allow the synthesis of the ligand exclusively on alkaline-stable bonds. The method consists in activating the hydrophilic base resin, blocking the hydroxyl groups responsible for alkaline lability and performing the peptide synthesis exclusively via alkaline-stable amide bonds. Repeated cycles of IgG purification from a cell culture medium were performed, each followed by cleaning with aqueous NaOH (0.1 M, 0.5 M and 1 M). The IgG yield decreased from 91% to 85% after 200 purification cycles with 0.1 M NaOH. However, the IgG purity remained almost constant at around 95% based on SDS-PAGE analysis. The procedure presented is rapid, efficient and inexpensive and does not require any equipment other than the conventional instrumentation for peptide synthesis. The method also has a broad application since it is valid for any peptide ligand identified for the purification of a biopharmaceutical target.

Effects of peptide density and elution pH on affinity chromatographic purification of human immunoglobulins A and M.

A family of linear hexamer peptide ligands HWRGWV, HYFKFD and HFRRHL, initially identified for their affinity to the Fc portion of human immunoglobulin G (hIgG), also have potential for use in the purification of human immunoglobulins A (hIgA) and M (hIgM). HWRGWV demonstrated the strongest binding affinity to hIgM, followed by hIgA and hIgG respectively. The effects of N-terminal acetylation of the peptide, as well as elution buffer pH, on the chromatographic elution of human IgG, IgA and IgM from HWRGWV resins at various peptide densities (0.04-0.55 meq/g) were investigated. Over 80% recovery and 90% purity were achieved for human IgG and IgA isolation from complete minimum essential medium (cMEM) using HWRGWV resin at optimum peptide densities. For human IgM, 75.7% recovery and 86.0% purity were achieved by using HWRGWV at a low peptide density of 0.04 meq/g. Although HYFKFD and HFRRHL exhibited their ability for isolation of human IgG, IgA and IgM from cMEM as well, HWRGWV is the best option among them for large-scale purification of human IgG, IgA and IgM based on conditions tested.