Production of a high purity, C-tagged hepatitis B surface antigen fusion protein VLP vaccine for malaria expressed in Pichia pastoris under cGMP conditions.

Virus-like particles (VLPs) induce strong humoral and cellular responses and have formed the basis of some currently licensed vaccines. Here, we present the method used for the production of R21, a VLP-based anti-sporozoite malaria vaccine, under current Clinical Good Manufacturing Practice regulations (cGMP). Previous preclinical studies in BALB/c mice showed that R21 produced almost complete protection against sporozoite challenge with transgenic Plasmodium berghei parasites. Here, we have modified the preclinical production process to enable the production of sufficient quantities of highly pure, clinical-grade material for use in human clinical trials. The R21 construct was re-engineered to include a C-tag to allow affinity-based separation from the major contaminant alcohol oxidase 1 (AOX 1, ~74 kDa). To our knowledge, this is the first use of C-tag technology to purify a VLP vaccine candidate for use in human clinical trials. The R21 vaccine has shown high-level efficacy in an African Phase IIb trial, and multiple clinical trials are underway to assess the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Our findings support the future use of C-tag platform technologies to enable cGMP-compliant biomanufacturing of high purity yeast-expressed VLP-based vaccines for early phase clinical trials when clinical grade material is required in smaller quantities in a quick time frame.

Muscle-specific kinase myasthenia gravis IgG4 autoantibodies cause severe neuromuscular junction dysfunction in mice.

Myasthenia gravis is a paralytic disorder with autoantibodies against acetylcholine receptors at the neuromuscular junction. A proportion of patients instead has antibodies against muscle-specific kinase, a protein essential for acetylcholine receptor clustering. These are generally of the immunoglobulin-G4 subclass and correlate with disease severity, suggesting specific myasthenogenic activity. However, immunoglobulin-G4 subclass antibodies are generally considered to be 'benign' and direct proof for their pathogenicity in muscle-specific kinase myasthenia gravis (or other immunoglobulin-G4-associated disorders) is lacking. Furthermore, the exact electrophysiological synaptic defects caused at neuromuscular junctions by human anti-muscle-specific kinase autoantibodies are hitherto unknown. We show that purified immunoglobulin-G4, but not immunoglobulin-G1-3, from patients with muscle-specific kinase myasthenia gravis binds to mouse neuromuscular junctions in vitro, and that injection into immunodeficient mice causes paralysis. Injected immunoglobulin-G4 caused reduced density and fragmented area of neuromuscular junction acetylcholine receptors. Detailed electrophysiological synaptic analyses revealed severe reduction of postsynaptic acetylcholine sensitivity, and exaggerated depression of presynaptic acetylcholine release during high-rate activity, together causing the (fatigable) muscle weakness. Intriguingly, compensatory transmitter release upregulation, which is the normal homeostatic response in acetylcholine receptor myasthenia gravis, was absent. This conveys extra vulnerability to neurotransmission at muscle-specific kinase myasthenia gravis neuromuscular junctions. Thus, we demonstrate that patient anti-muscle-specific kinase immunoglobulin-G4 is myasthenogenic, independent of additional immune system components, and have elucidated the underlying electrophysiological neuromuscular junction abnormalities.

Production, quality control, stability, and potency of cGMP-produced Plasmodium falciparum RH5.1 protein vaccine expressed in Drosophila S2 cells.

Plasmodium falciparum reticulocyte-binding protein homolog 5 (PfRH5) is a leading asexual blood-stage vaccine candidate for malaria. In preparation for clinical trials, a full-length PfRH5 protein vaccine called "RH5.1" was produced as a soluble product under cGMP using the ExpreS2 platform (based on a Drosophila melanogaster S2 stable cell line system). Following development of a high-producing monoclonal S2 cell line, a master cell bank was produced prior to the cGMP campaign. Culture supernatants were processed using C-tag affinity chromatography followed by size exclusion chromatography and virus-reduction filtration. The overall process yielded >400 mg highly pure RH5.1 protein. QC testing showed the MCB and the RH5.1 product met all specified acceptance criteria including those for sterility, purity, and identity. The RH5.1 vaccine product was stored at -80 °C and is stable for over 18 months. Characterization of the protein following formulation in the adjuvant system AS01B showed that RH5.1 is stable in the timeframe needed for clinical vaccine administration, and that there was no discernible impact on the liposomal formulation of AS01B following addition of RH5.1. Subsequent immunization of mice confirmed the RH5.1/AS01B vaccine was immunogenic and could induce functional growth inhibitory antibodies against blood-stage P. falciparum in vitro. The RH5.1/AS01B was judged suitable for use in humans and has since progressed to phase I/IIa clinical trial. Our data support the future use of the Drosophila S2 cell and C-tag platform technologies to enable cGMP-compliant biomanufacture of other novel and "difficult-to-express" recombinant protein-based vaccines.

Improved anti-IgG and HSA affinity ligands: clinical application of VHH antibody technology.

Large scale, highly specific purification of valuable proteins from blood and removal of undesirable components promise to have wide therapeutic applications. Moreover, depletion of bulk proteins from blood is a prerequisite for clinical proteomics. Here we describe the development of specific, high affinity Camelid antibody fragments (VHH) derived from immune libraries for purification and depletion of the bulk protein HSA and IgG from human serum and plasma for therapeutic and research purposes. The anti-IgG VHH substantially improved depletion of IgGs from blood over the classical method based on protein A. To demonstrate the improved performance of VHH based IgG depletion, we analyzed the presence of auto-antibodies in human plasma before and after depletion from two groups of patients with auto-immune disease: Goodpasture syndrome (GP) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). VHHs can be produced efficiently and cost effectively in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a genetically regarded as safe (GRAS) microorganism. A good manufacturing process (GMP) for purification of these VHHs has also been developed. Moreover, as VHHs are single protein chains, they can be coupled relatively easily to solid matrices. These three factors are important for developing affinity purification medication.

Accelerating the clinical development of protein-based vaccines for malaria by efficient purification using a four amino acid C-terminal 'C-tag'.

Development of bespoke biomanufacturing processes remains a critical bottleneck for translational studies, in particular when modest quantities of a novel product are required for proof-of-concept Phase I/II clinical trials. In these instances the ability to develop a biomanufacturing process quickly and relatively cheaply, without risk to product quality or safety, provides a great advantage by allowing new antigens or concepts in immunogen design to more rapidly enter human testing. These challenges with production and purification are particularly apparent when developing recombinant protein-based vaccines for difficult parasitic diseases, with Plasmodium falciparum malaria being a prime example. To that end, we have previously reported the expression of a novel protein vaccine for malaria using the ExpreS2Drosophila melanogaster Schneider 2 stable cell line system, however, a very low overall process yield (typically <5% recovery of hexa-histidine-tagged protein) meant the initial purification strategy was not suitable for scale-up and clinical biomanufacture of such a vaccine. Here we describe a newly available affinity purification method that was ideally suited to purification of the same protein which encodes the P. falciparum reticulocyte-binding protein homolog 5 - currently the leading antigen for assessment in next generation vaccines aiming to prevent red blood cell invasion by the blood-stage parasite. This purification system makes use of a C-terminal tag known as 'C-tag', composed of the four amino acids, glutamic acid - proline - glutamic acid - alanine (E-P-E-A), which is selectively purified on a CaptureSelect™ affinity resin coupled to a camelid single chain antibody, called NbSyn2. The C-terminal fusion of this short C-tag to P. falciparum reticulocyte-binding protein homolog 5 achieved >85% recovery and >70% purity in a single step purification directly from clarified, concentrated Schneider 2 cell supernatant under mild conditions. Biochemical and immunological analysis showed that the C-tagged and hexa-histidine-tagged P. falciparum reticulocyte-binding protein homolog 5 proteins are comparable. The C-tag technology has the potential to form the basis of a current good manufacturing practice-compliant platform, which could greatly improve the speed and ease with which novel protein-based products progress to clinical testing.

Llama heavy-chain antibody fragments efficiently remove toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 from plasma in vitro but not in experimental porcine septic shock.

Staphylococcus aureus produces the superantigen toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1). When the bacterium invades the human circulation, this toxin can induce life-threatening gram-positive sepsis. Current sepsis treatment does not remove bacterial toxins. Variable domains of llama heavy-chain antibodies (VHH) against toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 ([alpha]-TSST-1 VHH) were previously found to be effective in vitro. We hypothesized that removing TSST-1 with [alpha]-TSST-1 VHH hemofiltration filters would ameliorate experimental sepsis in pigs. After assessing in vitro whether timely removing TSST-1 interrupted TSST-1-induced mononuclear cell TNF-[alpha] production, VHH-coated filters were applied in a porcine sepsis model. Clinical course, survival, plasma interferon [gamma], and TSST-1 levels were similar with and without VHH-coated filters as were TSST-1 concentrations before and after the VHH filter. Plasma TSST-1 levels were much lower than anticipated from the distribution of the amount of infused TSST-1, suggesting compartmentalization to space or adhesion to surface not accessible to hemofiltration or pheresis techniques. Removing TSST-1 from plasma was feasible in vitro. However, the [alpha]-TSST-1 VHH adsorption filter-based technique was ineffective in vivo, indicating that improvement of VHH-based hemofiltration is required. Sequestration likely prevented the adequate removal of TSST-1. The latter warrants further investigation of TSST-1 distribution and clearance in vivo.

Quaternary ammonium compounds as water channel blockers. Specificity, potency, and site of action.

Excessive water uptake through Aquaporins (AQP) can be life-threatening and reversible AQP inhibitors are needed. Here, we determined the specificity, potency, and binding site of tetraethylammonium (TEA) to block Aquaporin water permeability. Using oocytes, externally applied TEA blocked AQP1/AQP2/AQP4 with IC50 values of 1.4, 6.2, and 9.8 microM, respectively. Related tetraammonium compounds yielded some (propyl) or no (methyl, butyl, or pentyl) inhibition. TEA inhibition was lost upon a Tyr to Phe amino acid switch in the external water pore of AQP1/AQP2/AQP4, whereas the water permeability of AQP3 and AQP5, which lack a corresponding Tyr, was not blocked by TEA. Consistent with experimental data, multi-nanosecond molecular dynamics simulations showed one stable binding site for TEA, but not tetramethyl (TMA), in AQP1, resulting in a nearly 50% water permeability inhibition, which was reduced in AQP1-Y186F due to effects on the TEA inhibitory binding region. Moreover, in the simulation TEA interacted with charged residues in the C (Asp128) and E (Asp185) loop, and the A(Tyr37-Asn42-Thr44) loop of the neighboring monomer, but not directly with Tyr186. The loss of TEA inhibition in oocytes expressing properly folded AQP1-N42A or -T44A is in line with the computationally predicted binding mode. Our data reveal that the molecular interaction of TEA with AQP1 differs and is about 1000-fold more effective on AQPs than on potassium channels. Moreover, the observed experimental and simulated similarities open the way for rational design and virtual screening for AQP-specific inhibitors, with quaternary ammonium compounds in general, and TEA in particular as a lead compound.