Development of an icIEF assay for monitoring AAV capsid proteins and application to gene therapy products.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy vectors, which contain a DNA transgene packaged into a protein capsid, have shown tremendous therapeutic potential in recent years. Methods traditionally used in quality control labs, such as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and capillary electrophoresis (CE), do not provide a complete understanding of capsid viral protein (VP) charge heterogeneity. In the present study, we developed simple, one-step sample preparation and charge-based VP separation using imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) for monitoring AAV products. The robustness of the method was confirmed through a design of experiments (DoE) exercise. An orthogonal reverse-phase (RP) HPLC method coupled with mass spectrometry was developed to separate and identify charge species. Additionally, capsid point mutants demonstrate the capability of the method to resolve deamidation at a single site on the viral proteins. Finally, case studies using two different AAV serotype vectors establish the icIEF method as stability indicating and demonstrate that increases in acidic species measured by icIEF correlate with increased deamidation, which, we show, results in decreased transduction efficiency. The addition of a rapid and robust icIEF method to the AAV capsid analytical toolkit enables development and consistent manufacturing of well-characterized gene therapy products.

Production of N(epsilon)-(carboxymethyl)lysine is impaired in mice deficient in NADPH oxidase: a role for phagocyte-derived oxidants in the formation of advanced glycation end products during inflammation.

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) derived from glucose are implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic vascular disease. However, many lines of evidence suggest that other pathways also promote AGE formation. One potential mechanism involves oxidants produced by the NADPH oxidase of neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages. In vitro studies have demonstrated that glycolaldehyde, a product of serine oxidation, reacts with proteins to form N(epsilon)-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML), a chemically well-characterized AGE. We used mice deficient in phagocyte NADPH oxidase (gp91-phox(-/-)) to explore the role of oxidants in AGE production in isolated neutrophils and intact animals. Activated neutrophils harvested from wild-type mice generated CML on ribonuclease A (RNase A), a model protein, by a pathway that required L-serine. CML formation by gp91-phox(-/-) neutrophils was impaired, suggesting that oxidants produced by phagocyte NADPH oxidase contribute to the cellular formation of AGEs. To determine whether these observations are physiologically relevant, we used isotope-dilution gas chromatography/mass spectrometry to quantify levels of protein-bound CML in mice suffering from acute peritoneal inflammation. Phagocytes from the gp91-phox(-/-) mice contained much lower levels of CML than those from the wild-type mice. Therefore, oxidants generated by phagocyte NADPH oxidase may play a role in AGE formation in vivo by a glucose-independent pathway.