Model based adaptive control of a continuous capture process for monoclonal antibodies production.

A two-column capture process for continuous processing of cell-culture supernatant is presented. Similar to other multicolumn processes, this process uses sequential countercurrent loading of the target compound in order maximize resin utilization and productivity for a given product yield. The process was designed using a novel mechanistic model for affinity capture, which takes both specific adsorption as well as transport through the resin beads into account. Simulations as well as experimental results for the capture of an IgG antibody are discussed. The model was able to predict the process performance in terms of yield, productivity and capacity utilization. Compared to continuous capture with two columns operated batch wise in parallel, a 2.5-fold higher capacity utilization was obtained for the same productivity and yield. This results in an equal improvement in product concentration and reduction of buffer consumption. The developed model was used not only for the process design and optimization but also for its online control. In particular, the unit operating conditions are changed in order to maintain high product yield while optimizing the process performance in terms of capacity utilization and buffer consumption also in the presence of changing upstream conditions and resin aging.

Comparison of batch and continuous multi-column protein A capture processes by optimal design.

Multi-column capture processes show several advantages compared to batch capture. It is however not evident how many columns one should use exactly. To investigate this issue, twin-column CaptureSMB, 3- and 4-column periodic counter-current chromatography (PCC) and single column batch capture are numerically optimized and compared in terms of process performance for capturing a monoclonal antibody using protein A chromatography. Optimization is carried out with respect to productivity and capacity utilization (amount of product loaded per cycle compared to the maximum amount possible), while keeping yield and purity constant. For a wide range of process parameters, all three multi-column processes show similar maximum capacity utilization and performed significantly better than batch. When maximizing productivity, the CaptureSMB process shows optimal performance, except at high feed titers, where batch chromatography can reach higher productivity values than the multi-column processes due to the complete decoupling of the loading and elution steps, albeit at a large cost in terms of capacity utilization. In terms of trade-off, i.e. how much the capacity utilization decreases with increasing productivity, CaptureSMB is optimal for low and high feed titers, whereas the 3-column process is optimal in an intermediate region. Using these findings, the most suitable process can be chosen for different production scenarios.

Optimal model-based design of the twin-column CaptureSMB process improves capacity utilization and productivity in protein A affinity capture.

Multi-column chromatographic processes have recently been developed for protein A affinity chromatography to efficiently capture monoclonal antibodies from cell culture supernatant. In this work, the novel twin-column CaptureSMB process was compared to a batch capture process with dual loading flow rate to identify performance gains. As a case study, the isolation of a monoclonal antibody with the Amsphere JWT-203 protein A resin was investigated. Using model based optimization, both processes were optimized and compared over a wide range of operating conditions. A trade-off between productivity and capacity utilization was found, and the resulting pareto-curves showed that CaptureSMB dominates batch, except at very low productivity values. With a feed titer of 1.2 mg mL(-1) , CaptureSMB could reach a productivity of up to 19.5 mg mL(-1) h(-1) experimentally, while maintaining relatively high capacity utilization of 63.8%. On the other hand, at maximum capacity utilization of 95.5%, a productivity of 10.2 mg mL(-1) h(-1) could be reached. This corresponds to a performance improvement with respect batch operation of about 25% in capacity utilization and 40% in productivity, for given yield and purity. CaptureSMB therefore offers a greatly increased performance over batch capture.

Twin-column CaptureSMB: a novel cyclic process for protein A affinity chromatography.

A twin-column counter-current chromatography processes, CaptureSMB, was used for the protein A affinity capture of a monoclonal antibody (mAb). By means of sequential loading, the process improves the utilization of the stationary phase by achieving loadings much closer to the static binding capacity of the resin in comparison to batch chromatography. Using a mAb capture case study with protein A affinity chromatography, the performance and product quality obtained from CaptureSMB and batch processes were compared. The effect of the flow rate, column length and titer concentration on the process performance and product quality were evaluated. CaptureSMB showed superior performance compared to batch chromatography with respect to productivity, capacity utilization, product concentration and buffer consumption. A simplified economic evaluation showed that CaptureSMB could decrease resin costs of 10-30% depending on the manufacturing scenario.

Role of urea on recombinant Apo A-I stability and its utilization in anion exchange chromatography.

Apolipoprotein A-I (Apo A-I) is an important lipid-binding protein involved in the transport and metabolism of cholesterol. High protein purity, in particular with respect to endotoxins is required for therapeutic applications. The use of urea during the purification process of recombinant Apo A-I produced in Escherichia coli has been suggested so as to provide high endotoxin clearance. In this work, we show that urea can be used as a sole modifier during the ion exchange chromatographic purification of Apo A-I and we investigate the molecular mechanism of elution by correlating the effect of urea on self-association, conformation and adsorption equilibrium properties of a modified model Apo A-I. In the absence of urea the protein was found to be present as a population of oligomers represented mainly by trimers, hexamers and nonamers. The addition of urea induced oligomer dissociation and protein structure unfolding. We correlated the changes in protein association and conformation with variations of the adsorption equilibrium of the protein on a strong anion exchanger. It was confirmed that the adsorption isotherms, described by a Langmuir model, were dependent on both protein and urea concentrations. Monomers, observed at low urea concentration (0.5M), were characterized by larger binding affinity and adsorption capacity compared to both protein oligomers (0M) and unfolded monomers (2-8M). The reduction of both the binding strength and maximum adsorption capacity at urea concentrations larger than 0.5M explains the ability of urea of inducing elution of the protein from the ion exchange resin. The dissociation of the protein complexes occurring during the elution could likely be the origin of the effective clearance of endotoxins originally trapped inside the oligomers.