IFN-ß treatment requires B cells for efficacy in neuroautoimmunity.

IFN-ß remains the most widely prescribed treatment for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis. Despite widespread use of IFN-ß, the therapeutic mechanism is still partially understood. Particularly, the clinical relevance of increased B cell activity during IFN-ß treatment is unclear. In this article, we show that IFN-ß pushes some B cells into a transitional, regulatory population that is a critical mechanism for therapy. IFN-ß treatment increases the absolute number of regulatory CD19(+)CD24(++)CD38(++) transitional B cells in peripheral blood relative to treatment-naive and Copaxone-treated patients. In addition, we found that transitional B cells from both healthy controls and IFN-ß-treated MS patients are potent producers of IL-10, and that the capability of IFN-ß to induce IL-10 is amplified when B cells are stimulated. Similar changes are seen in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. IFN-ß treatment increases transitional and regulatory B cell populations, as well as IL-10 secretion in the spleen. Furthermore, we found that IFN-ß increases autoantibody production, implicating humoral immune activation in B cell regulatory responses. Finally, we demonstrate that IFN-ß therapy requires immune-regulatory B cells by showing that B cell-deficient mice do not benefit clinically or histopathologically from IFN-ß treatment. These results have significant implications for the diagnosis and treatment of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.

High throughput screening of fiber-based adsorbents for material and process development.

There has been a growing interest in fibers and fiber-based adsorbents as alternative adsorbents for preparative chromatography. While the benefits of fiber-based adsorbents in terms of productivity have been highlighted in several recent studies, microscale tools that enable a fast characterization of these novel adsorbents, and an easy integration into process development workflows, are still lacking. In the present study an automated high-throughput screening (HTS) for fiber-based adsorbents was established on a robotic liquid handling station in 96 well filter plates. Two techniques - punching and weighing - were identified as techniques that enabled accurate and reproducible portioning of short-cut fiber-based adsorbents. The impact of several screening parameters such as phase ratio, shaking frequency, and incubation time were investigated and optimized for different types of fiber-based adsorbents. The data from the developed HTS correlated with data from packed fiber columns, and binding capacities from both scales matched closely. Subsequently, the developed HTS was utilized to optimize the hydrogel architecture of anion exchange (AEX) fiber-based adsorbent prototypes. A novel AEX fiber-based adsorbent was developed that compared favorably with existing resin and membrane adsorbents in terms of productivity and DNA binding capacity. In addition, the developed HTS was also successfully employed in order to identify step elution conditions for the purification of a monoclonal antibody from product- and process-related impurities with a cation exchange (CEX) fiber-based adsorbent. Trends from the HTS were found to be in good agreement with trends from lab scale column runs. The tool developed in this paper will enable a faster and more complete characterization of fiber-based adsorbents, easier tailoring of such adsorbents towards specific process applications, and an easier integration of such materials into processes. In comparison to previous lab scale experiments, material requirements are reduced by a factor of 3-40 and time requirements are reduced by a factor of 2-5.

Exploration of fiber-based cation exchange adsorbents for the removal of monoclonal antibody aggregates.

Cation exchange chromatography (CEX) is a widely used technique for the removal of monoclonal antibody (mAb) aggregates. At present, resins are mainly used for this purpose, as convective types of adsorbents such as membrane adsorbers (MAs) have often not demonstrated overall comparable performance for this particular application. Fiber-based adsorbents can overcome the current limitations of MAs with respect to permeability, binding capacity, and adsorbent cost, and could therefore be a viable alternative to resins for the removal of mAb aggregates. It has not been evaluated, however, whether and under which conditions the use of such adsorbents is feasible for this purpose. In the present study, the use of fiber-based CEX adsorbents for mAb aggregate removal was examined. Two types of fiber-based adsorbents, an uncontrolled grafted and a controlled grafted fiber-based adsorbent, were evaluated with respect to permeability, dynamic mAb binding capacity (DBC), resolution capabilities, and the performance in bind and elute (B/E) and frontal chromatography mode with respect to typical performance indicators. The permeabilities of the fiber-based adsorbents ranged from 200 to 1700 mD, making it possible to use the fiber-based adsorbents at larger bed heights than membrane adsorbers with fast mobile phase velocities. Antibody DBCs ranged from 20 to 41 g/L at 150 cm/h, and at higher mobile phase velocities exceeded the DBC of an existing resin material, Poros 50 HS, which has frequently been used for aggregate removal. Both fiber types showed good resolution capabilities of monomer and aggregates, and provided better resolution per column length than Poros 50 HS. Typical purity and yield constraints were fulfilled for both fiber types in both B/E and frontal chromatography mode for mobile phase velocities ranging up to 480 cm/h and 1060 cm/h. The overall performance of the controlled grafted fibers was found to be superior to the performance of uncontrolled grafted fiber-based adsorbents due to higher productivity and lower buffer consumption. The overall performance of the fiber-based adsorbents was found to be comparable to the performance of Poros 50 HS at typical operating conditions. The results in this study indicate that the use of fiber-based adsorbents for mAb aggregate removal is feasible with a performance that is comparable to the performance of an existing resin material. Depending on the cost of the adsorbents and the use scenario, the usage of such adsorbents could be beneficial.

Analysis of complex protein elution behavior in preparative ion exchange processes using a colloidal particle adsorption model.

A fundamental understanding of the protein retention mechanism in preparative ion exchange (IEX) chromatography columns is essential for a model-based process development approach. For the past three decades, the mechanistic description of protein retention has been based predominantly on the steric mass action (SMA) model. In recent years, however, retention profiles of proteins have been reported more frequently for preparative processes that are not consistent with the mechanistic understanding relying on the SMA model. In this work, complex elution behavior of proteins in preparative IEX processes is analyzed using a colloidal particle adsorption (CPA) model. The CPA model is found to be capable of reproducing elution profiles that cannot be described by the traditional SMA model. According to the CPA model, the reported complex behavior can be ascribed to a strong compression and concentration of the elution front in the lower unsaturated part of the chromatography column. As the unsaturated part of the column decreases with increasing protein load density, exceeding a critical load density can lead to the formation of a shoulder in the peak front. The general applicability of the model in describing preparative IEX processes is demonstrated using several industrial case studies including multiple monoclonal antibodies on different IEX adsorber systems. In this context, the work covers both salt controlled and pH-controlled protein elution.

Packing characteristics of winged shaped polymer fiber supports for preparative chromatography.

Polymer fibers have been identified as a promising alternative support material for liquid chromatography. Area enhanced fibers may overcome the shortcomings of conventional fiber supports with respect to binding capacity and packing efficiency. One type of area enhanced fiber supports are winged shaped microfibers, which have a more than tenfold higher surface area than round fibers, and can be manufactured via inexpensive, conventional extrusion techniques. In the present study, the packing characteristics of native and grafted winged shaped fiber supports have been investigated. A suspension based packing technique was used to pack short winged shaped polyamide 6 (PA6) fibers into small laboratory scale columns. Low column-to-column variabilities in porosities, plate heights, axial dispersion coefficients, and peak asymmetries were observed. Peak asymmetries were within typical ranges of preparative columns, and plate heights were at the lower end of those reported for other fiber supports. Packing density was found to be the main parameter that affected column performance. Lower packing densities were associated with lower plate heights, while increases in bed height resulted in more symmetric peak shapes. Packing density was also found to have a strong impact on the performance of poly (glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) grafted and sulfonated (SO3-) winged shaped PA6 fibers. Higher packing densities resulted in higher dynamic binding capacities (DBCs), but led to a decrease in capacity utilization and resolution. A comparison to conventional perfusive and diffusive adsorbents revealed that under optimized packing conditions such adsorbents can achieve a better resolution than conventional adsorbents at high mobile phase velocities. Overall, these results suggest, that winged shaped fibers have strong potential as supports for preparative chromatography. Further improvements may be possible via adjustments in the fiber dimensions.

Feasibility of using continuous chromatography in downstream processing: Comparison of costs and product quality for a hybrid process vs. a conventional batch process.

The protein A capture step is the main cost-driver in downstream processing, with high attrition costs especially when using protein A resin not until end of resin lifetime. Here we describe a feasibility study, transferring a batch downstream process to a hybrid process, aimed at replacing batch protein A capture chromatography with a continuous capture step, while leaving the polishing steps unchanged to minimize required process adaptations compared to a batch process. 35g of antibody were purified using the hybrid approach, resulting in comparable product quality and step yield compared to the batch process. Productivity for the protein A step could be increased up to 420%, reducing buffer amounts by 30-40% and showing robustness for at least 48h continuous run time. Additionally, to enable its potential application in a clinical trial manufacturing environment cost of goods were compared for the protein A step between hybrid process and batch process, showing a 300% cost reduction, depending on processed volumes and batch cycles.

A mechanistic model of ion-exchange chromatography on polymer fiber stationary phases.

Fibers are prominent among novel stationary phase supports for preparative chromatography. Several recent studies have highlighted the potential of fiber-based adsorbents for high productivity downstream processing in both batch and continuous mode, but so far the development of these materials and of processes employing these materials has solely been based on experimental data. In this study we assessed whether mechanistic modeling can be performed on fiber-based adsorbents. With a column randomly filled with short cut hydrogel grafted anion exchange fibers, we tested whether tracer, linear gradient elution, and breakthrough data could be reproduced by mechanistic models. Successful modeling was achieved for all of the considered experiments, for both non-retained and retained molecules. For the fibers used in this study the best results were obtained with a transport-dispersive model in combination with a steric mass action isotherm. This approach accurately accounted for the convection and dispersion of non-retained tracers, and the breakthrough and elution behaviors of three different proteins with sizes ranging from 6 to 160kDa were accurately modeled, with simulation results closely resembling the experimental data. The estimated model parameters were plausible both from their physical meaning, and from an analysis of the underlying model assumptions. Parameters were determined within good confidence levels; the average confidence estimate was below 7% for confidence levels of 95%. This shows that fiber-based adsorbents can be modeled mechanistically, which will be valuable for the future design and evaluation of these novel materials and for the development of processes employing such materials.