Production of adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotypes by transient transfection of HEK293 cell suspension cultures for gene delivery.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is being used successfully in gene therapy. Different serotypes of AAV target specific organs and tissues with high efficiency. There exists an increasing demand to manufacture various AAV serotypes in large quantities for pre-clinical and clinical trials. A generic and scalable method has been described in this study to efficiently produce AAV serotypes (AAV1-9) by transfection of a fully characterized cGMP HEK293SF cell line grown in suspension and serum-free medium. First, the production parameters were evaluated using AAV2 as a model serotype. Second, all nine AAV serotypes were produced successfully with yields of 10(13)Vg/L cell culture. Subsequently, AAV2 and AAV6 serotypes were produced in 3-L controlled bioreactors where productions yielded up to 10(13)Vg/L similar to the yields obtained in shake-flasks. For example, for AAV2 10(13)Vg/L cell culture (6.8×10(11)IVP/L) were measured between 48 and 64h post transfection (hpt). During this period, the average cell specific AAV2 yields of 6800Vg per cell and 460IVP per cell were obtained with a Vg to IVP ratio of less than 20. Successful operations in bioreactors demonstrated the potential for scale-up and industrialization of this generic process for manufacturing AAV serotypes efficiently.

An efficient process for the purification of helper-dependent adenoviral vector and removal of helper virus by iodixanol ultracentrifugation.

The preparation of large amount of purified helper-dependent adenoviral vector material is hampered by the lack of development of downstream processes with proven records on separation and recovery efficiencies. In order to facilitate the use of clinical-grade helper-dependent virus material for large-scale in vivo studies, a three-step purification scheme consisting of (1) an anion-exchange chromatography for initial capturing of virus, (2) a shallow iodixanol density gradient ultracentrifugation for the removal of helper virus from helper-dependent virus, and (3) a size-exclusion chromatography for the removal of iodixanol and residual protein contaminants as a polishing step was developed. The use of a fast iodixanol density ultracentrifugation step was highly effective in separating infectious helper-dependent virus from contaminating helper virus. The overall downstream processing scheme gave 80% infectious particle yield. The contamination ratio of helper virus in the helper-dependent virus preparation are reduced from 2.57 to 0.03% corresponding to a reduction of helper virus by factors of 85 by two iodixanol purification steps. It was also demonstrated that size-exclusion chromatography is an excellent step for the removal of iodixanol and polishing of the final helper-dependent virus preparation.

High cell density fed batch and perfusion processes for stable non-viral expression of secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) using insect cells: comparison to a batch Sf-9-BEV system.

The development of insect cells expressing recombinant proteins in a stable continuous manner is an attractive alternative to the BEV system for recombinant protein production. High cell density fed batch and continuous perfusion processes can be designed to maximize the productivity of stably transformed cells. A cell line (Sf-9SEAP) expressing high levels of the reporter protein SEAP stably was obtained by lipid-mediated transfection of Sf-9 insect cells and further selection and screening. The expression of the Sf-9SEAP cells was compared with the BEVS system. It was observed that, the yield obtained in BEVS was similar to the batch Sf-9SEAP at 8 and 7 IU/mL, respectively. The productivity of this foreign gene product with the stable cells was enhanced by bioprocess intensification employing the fed-batch and perfusion modes of culture to increase the cell density in culture. The fed batch process yielded a maximum cell density of 28 x 10(6) cells/mL and 12 IU/mL of SEAP. Further improvements in the productivity could be made using the perfusion process, which demonstrated a stable production rate for extended periods of time. The process was maintained for 43 days, with a steady-state cell density of 17-20 x 10(6) cells/mL and 7 IU/mL SEAP. The total yield obtained in the perfusion process (394 IU) was approximately 22 and 8 times higher than that obtained in a batch (17.6 IU) and fed batch (46.1 IU) process, respectively.

Stability of serum-free and purified baculovirus stocks under various storage conditions.

In a context of large-scale production of baculoviruses in serum-free media for use as gene delivery vectors, the stability of these viruses has become an important factor. The development of robust processes heavily relies on baculovirus stock stability. In the present work, we studied over a period of 300 days the stability of baculovirus vectors produced in serum-free media stored at 4, -20, or -80 degrees C or in liquid nitrogen. The viral stocks investigated were either crude baculovirus supernatant, baculovirus supernatant concentrated 10 times and diafiltered against fresh serum-free media by tangential flow filtration, or baculovirus purified by size exclusion chromatography. The results showed that baculovirus supernatant and diafiltered concentrate stored at 4 degrees C underwent a progressive loss of infectivity after a period of 100 and 50 days of storage, respectively. Aggregation has been recognized as the probable mechanism for the loss of infectivity. Baculovirus stocks were unstable at -20 degrees C, whereas in liquid nitrogen they retained infectivity after successive freeze thaw cycles. Concentration and diafiltration of baculovirus supernatant prior to storing at -80 degrees C contributed to improving viral stock stability over time. Glycerol as well as DMSO and sucrose have proven to be equally effective as additives to maintain the purified baculovirus stability after storage at -80 degrees C or in liquid nitrogen.

Analysis of baculovirus aggregates using flow cytometry.

Aggregation of viral particles represents a significant problem for baculoviral stock processing and storage. Aggregation may also affect the results of viral particle counting. A method using flow cytometry was previously developed in our lab to measure the concentration of baculovirus particles produced in insect cell cultures. In the present study, the use of the flow cytometry method was extended to the detection of baculovirus aggregates. Flow cytometry analysis of freshly prepared baculovirus stocks, stained with SYBR Green, generally exhibited a single unimodal distribution; while, baculovirus stocks stored at 4 degrees C for a few months exhibited a bimodal distribution of the fluorescent intensity signal. The bimodal distribution was associated with a decrease in the size of the original viral population and an emergence of a new viral population with a high fluorescence intensity. Treatment of these samples with an endonuclease (Benzonase) confirmed that the new population observed in the flow cytometry analysis is not free cellular DNA. Filtration through 0.22 and 0.45 microm membranes of the stored samples prior to flow cytometry analysis confirmed that the high fluorescence intensity population involved particles larger than a single baculovirus. Exposing freshly amplified baculovirus stocks with a unimodal distribution to a pH of 5.3, a condition known to induce aggregation, showed the emergence of a second population with a bimodal distribution. These results suggest that flow cytometry analysis could be used to detect baculovirus aggregates. The aggregates were associated with high fluorescence intensity populations and the mean green fluorescence intensity of these populations could be used as an indicator of the mean aggregate size.