Rapid Developability Assessments to Formulate Recombinant Protein Antigens as Stable, Low-Cost, Multi-Dose Vaccine Candidates: Case-Study With Non-Replicating Rotavirus (NRRV) Vaccine Antigens.

A two-step developability assessment workflow is described to screen variants of recombinant protein antigens under various formulation conditions to rapidly identify stable, aluminum-adjuvanted, multi-dose vaccine candidates. For proof-of-concept, a series of sequence variants of the recombinant non-replicating rotavirus (NRRV) P[8] protein antigen (produced in Komagataella phaffii) were compared in terms of primary structure, post-translational modifications, antibody binding, conformational stability, relative solubility and preservative compatibility. Based on these results, promising P[8] variants were down-selected and the impact of key formulation conditions on storage stability was examined (e.g., presence or absence of the aluminum-adjuvant Alhydrogel and the preservative thimerosal) as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and antibody binding assays. Good correlations between rapidly-generated developability screening data and storage stability profiles (12 weeks at various temperatures) were observed for aluminum-adsorbed P[8] antigens. These findings were extended and confirmed using variants of a second NRRV antigen, P[4]. These case-study results with P[8] and P[4] NRRV variants are discussed in terms of using this vaccine formulation developability workflow to better inform and optimize formulation design with a wide variety of recombinant protein antigens, with the long-term goal of rapidly and cost-efficiently identifying low-cost vaccine formulations for use in low and middle income countries.

Macroscopic modeling of bioreactors for recombinant protein producing Pichia pastoris in defined medium.

The methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris is widely used as a microbial host for recombinant protein production. Bioreactor models for P. pastoris can inform understanding of cellular metabolism and can be used to optimize bioreactor operation. This article constructs an extensive macroscopic bioreactor model for P. pastoris which describes substrates, biomass, total protein, other medium components, and off-gas components. Species and elemental balances are introduced to describe uptake and evolution rates for medium components and off-gas components. Additionally, a pH model is constructed using an overall charge balance, acid/base equilibria, and activity coefficients to describe production of recombinant protein and precipitation of medium components. The extent of run-to-run variability is modeled by distributions of a subset of the model parameters, which are estimated using the maximum likelihood method. Model prediction from the extensive macroscopic bioreactor model well describes experimental data with different operating conditions. The probability distributions of the model predictions quantified from the parameter distribution are quantifiably consistent with the run-to-run variability observed in the experimental data. The uncertainty description in this macroscopic bioreactor model identifies the model parameters that have large variability and provides guidance as to which aspects of cellular metabolism should be the focus of additional experimental studies. The model for medium components with pH and precipitation can be used for improving chemically defined medium by minimizing the amount of components needed while meeting cellular requirements.

Holistic process development to mitigate proteolysis of a subunit rotavirus vaccine candidate produced in Pichia pastoris by means of an acid pH pulse during fed-batch fermentation.

To meet the challenges of global health, vaccine design and development must be reconsidered to achieve cost of goods as low as 15¢ per dose. A new recombinant protein-based rotavirus vaccine candidate derived from non-replicative viral subunits fused to a P2 tetanus toxoid CD4(+) T cell epitope is currently under clinical development. We have sought to simplify the existing manufacturing process to meet these aims. To this end, we have taken a holistic process development approach to reduce process complexity and costs while producing a product with the required characteristics. We have changed expression system from Escherichia coli to Pichia pastoris, to produce a secreted product, thereby reducing the number of purification steps. However, the presence of proteases poses challenges to product quality. To understand the effect of fermentation parameters on product quality small-scale fermentations were carried out. Media pH and fermentation duration had the greatest impact on the proportion of full-length product. A novel acidic pH pulse strategy was used to minimize proteolysis, and this combined with an early harvest time significantly increased the proportion of full-length material (60-75%). An improved downstream process using a combination of CIEX and AIEX to further reduce proteases, resulted in maintaining product quality (95% yield).

High throughput automated microbial bioreactor system used for clone selection and rapid scale-down process optimization.

High throughput automated fermentation systems have become a useful tool in early bioprocess development. In this study, we investigated a 24 x 15 mL single use microbioreactor system, ambr 15f, designed for microbial culture. We compared the fed-batch growth and production capabilities of this system for two Escherichia coli strains, BL21 (DE3) and MC4100, and two industrially relevant molecules, hGH and scFv. In addition, different carbon sources were tested using bolus, linear or exponential feeding strategies, showing the capacity of the ambr 15f system to handle automated feeding. We used power per unit volume (P/V) as a scale criterion to compare the ambr 15f with 1 L stirred bioreactors which were previously scaled-up to 20 L with a different biological system, thus showing a potential 1,300 fold scale comparability in terms of both growth and product yield. By exposing the cells grown in the ambr 15f system to a level of shear expected in an industrial centrifuge, we determined that the cells are as robust as those from a bench scale bioreactor. These results provide evidence that the ambr 15f system is an efficient high throughput microbial system that can be used for strain and molecule selection as well as rapid scale-up. © 2017 The Authors Biotechnology Progress published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 34:58-68, 2018.

Efficient soluble expression of disulfide bonded proteins in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli in fed-batch fermentations on chemically defined minimal media.

BACKGROUND: The production of recombinant proteins containing disulfide bonds in Escherichia coli is challenging. In most cases the protein of interest needs to be either targeted to the oxidizing periplasm or expressed in the cytoplasm in the form of inclusion bodies, then solubilized and re-folded in vitro. Both of these approaches have limitations. Previously we showed that soluble expression of disulfide bonded proteins in the cytoplasm of E. coli is possible at shake flask scale with a system, known as CyDisCo, which is based on co-expression of a protein of interest along with a sulfhydryl oxidase and a disulfide bond isomerase. With CyDisCo it is possible to produce disulfide bonded proteins in the presence of intact reducing pathways in the cytoplasm. RESULTS: Here we scaled up production of four disulfide bonded proteins to stirred tank bioreactors and achieved high cell densities and protein yields in glucose fed-batch fermentations, using an E. coli strain (BW25113) with the cytoplasmic reducing pathways intact. Even without process optimization production of purified human single chain IgA1 antibody fragment reached 139 mg/L and hen avidin 71 mg/L, while purified yields of human growth hormone 1 and interleukin 6 were around 1 g/L. Preliminary results show that human growth hormone 1 was also efficiently produced in fermentations of W3110 strain and when glucose was replaced with glycerol as the carbon source. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show for the first time that efficient production of high yields of soluble disulfide bonded proteins in the cytoplasm of E. coli with the reducing pathways intact is feasible to scale-up to bioreactor cultivations on chemically defined minimal media.

Differential response in downstream processing of CHO cells grown under mild hypothermic conditions.

The manufacture of complex therapeutic proteins using mammalian cells is well established, with several strategies developed to improve productivity. The application of sustained mild hypothermic conditions during culture has been associated with increases in product titer and improved product quality. However, despite associated cell physiological effects, very few studies have investigated the impact on downstream processing (DSP). Characterization of cells grown under mild hypothermic conditions demonstrated that the stationary phase was prolonged by delaying the onset of apoptosis. This enabled cells to maintain viability for extended periods and increase volumetric productivity from 0.74 to 1.02 g L(-1) . However, host cell proteins, measured by ELISA, increased by ∼50%, attributed to the extended time course and higher peak and harvest cell densities. The individual components making up this impurity, as determined by SELDI-TOF MS and 2D-PAGE, were shown to be largely comparable. Under mild hypothermic conditions, cells were less shear sensitive than those maintained at 37°C, enhancing the preliminary primary recovery step. Adaptive changes in membrane fluidity were further investigated by adopting a pronounced temperature shift immediately prior to primary recovery and the improvement observed suggests that such a strategy may be implementable when shear sensitivity is of concern. Early and late apoptotic cells were particularly susceptible to shear, at either temperature, even under the lowest shear rate investigated. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering the impact of cell culture strategies and cell physiology on DSP, by implementing a range of experimental methods for process characterization.

Impact of aeration strategy on CHO cell performance during antibody production.

Stirred tank bioreactors using suspension adapted mammalian cells are typically used for the production of complex therapeutic proteins. The hydrodynamic conditions experienced by cells within this environment have been shown to directly impact growth, productivity, and product quality and therefore an improved understanding of the cellular response is critical. Here we investigate the sub-lethal effects of different aeration strategies on Chinese hamster ovary cells during monoclonal antibody production. Two gas delivery systems were employed to study the presence and absence of the air-liquid interface: bubbled direct gas sparging and a non-bubbled diffusive silicone membrane system. Additionally, the effect of higher gas flow rate in the sparged bioreactor was examined. Both aeration systems were run using chemically defined media with and without the shear protectant Pluronic F-68 (PF-68). Cells were unable to grow with direct gas sparging without PF-68; however, when a silicone membrane aeration system was implemented growth was comparable to the sparged bioreactor with PF-68, indicating the necessity of shear protectants in the presence of bubbles. The cultures exposed to increased hydrodynamic stress were shown by flow cytometry to have decreased F-actin intensity within the cytoskeleton and enter apoptosis earlier. This indicates that these conditions elicit a sub-lethal physiological change in cells that would not be detected by the at-line assays which are normally implemented during cell culture. These physiological changes only result in a difference in continuous centrifugation performance under high flow rate conditions. Product quality was more strongly affected by culture age than the hydrodynamic conditions tested.

Host cell protein adsorption characteristics during protein A chromatography.

Protein A chromatography is a critical and 'gold-standard' step in the purification of monoclonal antibody (mAb) products. Its ability to remove >98% of impurities in a single step alleviates the burden on subsequent process steps and facilitates the implementation of platform processes, with a minimal number of chromatographic steps. Here, we have evaluated four commercially available protein A chromatography matrices in terms of their ability to remove host cell proteins (HCPs), a complex group of process related impurities that must be removed to minimal levels. SELDI-TOF MS was used as a screening tool to generate an impurity profile fingerprint for each resin and indicated a number of residual impurities present following protein A chromatography, agreeing with HCP ELISA. Although many of these were observed for all matrices there was a significantly elevated level of impurity binding associated with the resin based on controlled pore glass under standard conditions. Use of null cell line supernatant with and without spiked purified mAb demonstrated the interaction of HCPs to be not only with the resin back-bone but also with the bound mAb. A null cell line column overload and sample enrichment method before 2D-PAGE was then used to determine individual components associated with resin back-bone adsorption. The methods shown allow for a critical analysis of HCP removal during protein A chromatography. Taken together they provide the necessary process understanding to allow process engineers to identify rational approaches for the removal of prominent HCPs.