A microcarrier cell culture process for propagating rabies virus in Vero cells grown in a stirred bioreactor under fully animal component free conditions

Rabies virus strain production in Vero cells grown on Cytodex 1 in a 2 L stirred tank bioreactor and in a medium free of components of human or animal origin (VP-SFM) is described. Cell banking procedure in VP-SFM supplemented with an animal components free mixture (10%DMSO+0.1%methylcellulose) was reported and cell growth after revitalization was assessed. Vero cells exhibited growth performances (specific growth rate and cell division number) similar to that obtained in serum containing medium. To design a scalable process that is totally free of animal-derived substances, two proteases: TrypLE Select and Accutase, were assessed as an alternative to trypsin which is routinely used for cell passage. Growth performance of Vero cells grown in VP-SFM and MEM+10% fetal calf serum (FCS) over four passages and subcultivated with either TrypLE Select or Accutase was evaluated. TrypLE Select showed the best performance in terms of specific growth rate and cell division number. Kinetics of cell growth and rabies virus production (LP2061/Vero strain) were investigated in spinner flask and in a 2 L bioreactor. In spinner flask, a maximal cell density level of 1.85x10(6) cells/mL was achieved when the cells were grown in VP-SFM on 2 g/L Cytodex 1. Cell infection experiments conducted at an MOI of 0.3 and without the medium exchange step, typically needed for serum containing rabies virus production, resulted in a maximal virus titer equal to 2x10(7) (Fluorescent Focus Unit) FFU/mL. In stirred tank bioreactor, Vero cell growth in VP-SFM on 3 g/L Cytodex 1 was shown to be sensitive to the aeration mode. Sparging the culture was detrimental for cell growth, whereas cell density level was greatly enhanced when only headspace aeration was used. A cell density level of 2.6x10(6) cells/mL was obtained when the cells were grown on 3g/L Cytodex 1 and in batch culture mode. Cell infection at an MOI of 0.1 without any medium exchange, yielded a maximal rabies virus titer of 2.4x10(7) FFU/mL. Furthermore, Vero cell growth in a 2 L bioreactor using recirculation culture mode during cell proliferation step and perfusion for virus multiplication phase was investigated. In comparison to batch culture, a higher cell density level that was equal to 5x10(6) cells/mL was reached. Cell infection under conditions similar to batch culture, resulted in a maximal virus titer equal to 1.38x10(8) FFU/mL. The potency of the pooled inactivated virus harvests showed an activity of 2.58 IU/mL which was comparable to that obtained in serum supplemented medium.     

An animal component free medium that promotes the growth of various animal cell lines for the production of viral vaccines

IPT-AFM is a proprietary animal component free medium that was developed for rabies virus (strain LP 2061) production in Vero cells. In the present work, we demonstrated the versatility of this medium and its ability to sustain the growth of other cell lines and different virus strains. Here, three models were presented: Vero cells/rabies virus (strain LP 2061), MRC-5 cells/measles virus (strain AIK-C) and BHK-21 cells/rabies virus (strain PV-BHK21). The cell lines were first adapted to grow in IPT-AFM, by progressive reduction of the amount of serum in the culture medium. After their adaptation, BHK-21 cells grew in suspension by forming clumps, whereas MRC-5 cells remained adherent. Then, kinetics of cell growth were studied in agitated cultures for both cell lines. In addition, kinetics of virus replication were investigated.     

Semi-perfusion cultures of suspension MDCK cells enable high cell concentrations and efficient influenza A virus production

Control and prevention of rapid influenza spread among humans depend on the availability of efficient and safe seasonal and pandemic vaccines, made primarily from inactivated influenza virus particles. Current influenza virus production processes rely heavily on embryonated chicken eggs or on cell culture as substrate for virus propagation. Today’s efforts towards process intensification in animal cell culture could innovate viral vaccine manufacturing using high-yield suspension cells in high cell density perfusion processes. In this work, we present a MDCK cell line adapted to grow as single cell suspension with a doubling time of less than 20 h, achieving cell concentrations over 1 × 10⁷ cells/mL in batch mode. Influenza A virus titer obtained in batch infections were 3.6 log₁₀(HAU/100 µL) for total- and 10⁹ virions/mL for infectious virus particles (TCID₅₀), respectively. In semi-perfusion mode concentrations up to 6 × 10⁷ cells/mL, accumulated virus titer of 4.5 log₁₀(HAU/100 µL) and infectious titer of almost 10¹⁰ virions/mL (TCID₅₀) were possible. This exceeds results reported previously for cell culture-based influenza virus propagation by far and suggests perfusion cultures as the preferred method in viral vaccine manufacturing.     

Efficient influenza A virus production in high cell density using the novel porcine suspension cell line PBG.PK2.1

Seasonal and pandemic influenza respiratory infections are still a major public health issue. Vaccination is the most efficient way to prevent influenza infection. One option to produce influenza vaccines is cell-culture based virus propagation. Different host cell lines, such as MDCK, Vero, AGE1.CR or PER.C6 cells have been shown to be a good substrate for influenza virus production. With respect to the ease of scale-up, suspension cells should be preferred over adherent cells. Ideally, they should replicate different influenza virus strains with high cell-specific yields. Evaluation of new cell lines and further development of processes is of considerable interest, as this increases the number of options regarding the design of manufacturing processes, flexibility of vaccine production and efficiency.Here, PBG.PK2.1, a new mammalian cell line that was developed by ProBioGen AG (Germany) for virus production is presented. The cells derived from immortal porcine kidney cells were previously adapted to growth in suspension in a chemically-defined medium. Influenza virus production was improved after virus adaptation to PBG.PK2.1 cells and optimization of infection conditions, namely multiplicity of infection and trypsin concentration. Hemagglutinin titers up to 3.24 log₁₀(HA units/100 µL) were obtained in fed-batch mode in bioreactors (700 mL working volume). Evaluation of virus propagation in high cell density culture using a hollow-fiber based system (ATF2) demonstrated promising performance: Cell concentrations of up to 50 × 10⁶ cells/mL with viabilities exceeding 95%, and a maximum HA titer of 3.93 log₁₀(HA units/100 µL). Analysis of glycosylation of the viral HA antigen expressed showed clear differences compared to HA produced in MDCK or Vero cell lines. With an average cell-specific productivity of 5000 virions/cell, we believe that PBG.PK2.1 cells are a very promising candidate to be considered for next-generation influenza virus vaccine production.     

Use of MDCK cells for production of live attenuated influenza vaccine

To develop a cell-based live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) manufacturing process, several different cell lines were evaluated by comparing the titer of viruses after infection with LAIV strains. While several cell lines have been reported to support influenza virus replication, the degree of replication and the ability to support replication of LAIV strains have not been systematically examined. MDCK cells, which have been considered as potential substrates for influenza vaccine production were evaluated in addition to Vero, MRC-5, WI-38 and FRhL cells. MRC-5, WI-38 and FRhL cells produced low to moderate titers of virus with titers equal or below 5.0 log₁₀ TCID₅₀/mL. Both Vero and MDCK cells could support a higher level of virus replication for certain strains, however, Vero cells only produced high titers when grown in the presence of serum. MDCK cells supported high levels of vaccine virus production for multiple different LAIV subtypes in both serum containing and serum-free media. These results suggest that MDCK cell-based production can be used as an alternative production platform to the currently used egg-based LAIV production system.     

53例人用狂犬病无佐剂纯化疫苗接种后抗体检测结果分析

目的观察暴露后人群接种国产人用狂犬病无佐剂纯化疫苗(Vero cell)的免疫效果。方法对53例研究对象按照0、3、7、14和28 d程序进行暴露后免疫,采用WHO认可的RFFIT法检测免疫14 d,45 d的血清抗体。观察每针次接种后72 h内局部和全身反应。结果所有接种对象均未出现严重副反应。首剂免疫14 d,45 d ELISA法检测抗体阳性率分别为52.83%,94.34%,RFFIT法检测抗体阳性率分别为100%,100%。几何平均滴度(GMT)为17.74 IU/ml,15.50 IU/ml。结论国产人用狂犬病无佐剂纯化疫苗(Vero cell)具有良好的安全性和免疫原性。     

Development of a high-yield live-virus vaccine production platform using a novel fixed-bed bioreactor

The increasing importance of viral vaccine manufacturing has driven the need for high cell density process optimization that allows for higher production levels. Vero cells are one of the more popular adherent cell lines used for viral vaccine production. However, production is limited due to the logistical limitations surrounding adherent cell line processes, such as large equipment footprints, time and labor-intensive processes, and larger costs per dose. We have addressed this limitation with the establishment of a viral vaccine production system utilizing the novel single use scale-X™ carbo bioreactor. The unit is compact and is scalable and one of the novel features of the system is the continuous in-line downstream purification and concentration processes associated with the bioreactor vessel. We present the results from a campaign featuring a proprietary Vero cell line for production of a live recombinant Vesicular stomatitis virus vaccine that features the Lassa Fever virus glycoproteins. Metabolite analyses and viral yield comparison between traditional flasks, cell factories, and the scale-X carbo bioreactor were performed, and on average, the single use bioreactor produced 2–4 logs higher titers per surface area, approximately 5 × 10¹⁰ pfu/cm², compared to classical flatstock, 2.67 × 10⁶ pfu/cm², and cell factories production, 5.77 × 10⁸ pfu/cm². Overall, we describe a novel bioreactor platform that allows for a cost-efficient and scalable process for viral vaccine production.     

Propagation of Brazilian Zika virus strains in static and suspension cultures using Vero and BHK cells

The recent spread of Zika virus (ZIKV) in the Americas and the Pacific has reached alarming levels in more than 60 countries. However, relatively little is known about the disease on a virological and epidemiological level and its consequences for humans. Accordingly, a large demand for in vitro derived Brazilian ZIKV material to support in vitro and in vivo studies has arisen. However, a prompt supply of ZIKV and ZIKV antigens cannot be guaranteed as the production of this virus typically using Vero or C6/36 cell lines remains challenging.Here we present a production platform based on BHK-21 suspension (BHK-21_SUS) cells to propagate Brazilian ZIKV at larger quantities in perfusion bioreactors. Scouting experiments performed in tissue culture flasks using adherent BHK-21 and Vero cells have demonstrated similar permissivity and virus yields for four different Brazilian ZIKV isolates. The cell-specific yield of infectious virus particles varied between respective virus strains (1–48 PFU/cell), and the ZIKV isolate from the Brazilian state Pernambuco (ZIKV^PE) showed to be a best performing isolate for both cell lines. However, infection studies of BHK-21_SUS cells with ZIKV^PE in shake flasks resulted in poor virus replication, with a maximum titer of 8.9 × 10³ PFU/mL. Additional RT-qPCR measurements of intracellular and extracellular viral RNA levels revealed high viral copy numbers within the cell, but poor virus release. Subsequent cultivation in a perfusion bioreactor using an alternating tangential flow filtration system (ATF) under controlled process conditions enabled cell concentrations of about 1.2 × 10⁷ cells/mL, and virus titers of 3.9 × 10⁷ PFU/mL. However, while the total number of infectious virus particles was increased, the cell-specific yield (3.3 PFU/cell) remained lower than determined in adherent cell lines. Nevertheless, the established perfusion process allows to provide large amounts of ZIKV material for research and is a first step towards process development for manufacturing inactivated or live-attenuated ZIKV vaccines.     

Bioprocess optimization for cell culture based influenza vaccine production

Uncertainties and shortcomings associated with the current influenza vaccine production processes demand attention and exploration of new vaccine manufacture technologies. Based on a newly developed mammalian cell culture-based production process we investigated selected process parameters and describe three factors that are shown to impact productivity, process robustness and development time. They are time of infection, harvest time and virus input, or multiplicity of infection (MOI). By defining the time of infection as 4-5 days post cell seeding and harvest time as 2-3 days post-infection and comparing their effect on virus production, MOI is subsequently identified as the most impactful process parameter for live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) manufacture. Infection at very low MOI (between 10⁻⁴ and 10⁻⁶ FFU/cell) resulted in high titer virus production (up to 30-fold productivity improvement) compared to higher MOI infections (10⁻³ to 10⁻² FFU/cell). Application of these findings has allowed us to develop a platform process that can reduce the development time to approximately three weeks for an influenza vaccine manufacture process for new strains.     

Efficacy of the oral rabies virus vaccine strain SPBN GASGAS in foxes and raccoon dogs

To test the immunogenicity and efficacy of a new oral rabies virus vaccine strain SPBN GASGAS in wildlife target species, one group of foxes and two groups of raccoon dogs were offered a bait containing 1.7 ml of the vaccine (10^6.6 FFU/ml; 10^6.8 FFU/dose) and subsequently challenged approximately 180 days later with a fox rabies virus isolate. One group of raccoon dogs (n = 30) received the same challenge dose (10^0.7 MICLD₅₀/ml) as the red foxes (n = 29). The other group with raccoon dogs (n = 28) together with 8 animals that received the vaccine dose by direct instillation into the oral cavity (DIOC) were infected with a 40-fold higher dose of the challenge virus (10^2.3 MICLD₅₀/ml). All but one of the 29 vaccinated foxes survived the challenge infection; meanwhile all 12 control foxes succumbed to rabies. Twenty-eight of 30 vaccinated raccoon dogs challenged with the same dose survived the infection, however only six of 12 control animals succumbed. When the higher challenge dose was administered, all 12 control animals died from rabies and all 36 vaccinated animals (28 baited plus 8 DIOC) survived. Blood samples were collected at different time points post vaccination and examined by both RFFIT and ELISA. The kinetics of the measured immune response was similar for both species, although in RFFIT slightly higher values were observed in foxes than in raccoon dogs. However, the immune response as measured in ELISA was identical for both species. The oral rabies virus vaccine SPBN GASGAS meets the efficacy requirements for live rabies virus vaccines as laid down by the European Pharmacopoeia.     

Development of suspension adapted Vero cell culture process technology for production of viral vaccines

Vero cells are considered as the most widely accepted continuous cell line by the regulatory authorities (such as WHO) for the manufacture of viral vaccines for human use. The growth of Vero cells is anchorage-dependent. Scale-up and manufacturing in adherent cultures are labor intensive and complicated. Adaptation of Vero cells to grow in suspension will simplify subcultivation and process scale-up significantly, and therefore reduce the production cost.Here we report on a successful adaptation of adherent Vero cells to grow in suspension in a serum-free and animal component-free medium (IHM03) developed in-house. The suspension adapted Vero cell cultures in IHM03 grew to similar or better maximum cell density as what was observed for the adherent Vero cells grown in commercial serum-free media and with a cell doubling time of 40–44 h. Much higher cell density (8 × 10⁶ cells/mL) was achieved in a batch culture when three volume of the culture medium was replaced during the batch culture process.Both adherent and suspension Vero cells from various stages were tested for their authenticity using short tandem repeat analysis. Testing result indicates that all Vero cell samples had 100% concordance with the Vero DNA control sample, indicating the suspension cells maintained their genetic stability. Furthermore, suspension Vero cells at a passage number of 163 were assayed for tumorigenicity, and were not found to be tumorigenic.The viral productivity of suspension Vero cells was evaluated by using vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) as a model. The suspension cell culture showed a better productivity of VSV than the adherent Vero cell culture. In addition, the suspension culture could be infected at higher cell densities, thus improving the volumetric virus productivity. More than one log of increase in the VSV productivity was achieved in a 3L bioreactor perfusion culture infected at a cell density of 6.8 × 10⁶ cells/mL.     

Core bead chromatography for preparation of highly pure,infectious respiratory syncytial virus in the negative purification mode

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is an important human pathogen, and is the most frequent viral cause of severe respiratory disease in infants. In addition, it is increasingly being recognized as an important cause of respiratory disease in the elderly and immunocompromised. Although a passive prophylactic treatment does exist for high-risk neonates and children, the overall disease burden warrants the development of a safe and effective prophylactic vaccine for use in otherwise healthy newborns and children. RSV is known to be an extremely labile virus, prone to aggregation and loss of infectious titer during virus handling and preparation procedures. To date infective RSV virions have been prepared by methods which are not readily scalable, such as density gradient ultracentrifugation. In this study we describe a scalable, chromatography-based purification procedure for preparation of highly pure, infectious RSV. The purification scheme is based on core bead technology and hollow fiber tangential flow filtration (TFF) and results in a ∼60% recovery of infectious virus titer. This method can be used to prepare highly purified wild type or live-attenuated vaccine strain viruses with titers as high as 1 × 10⁸ plaque forming units per mL. A live-attenuated RSV vaccine prepared by this method was found to be immunogenic and protective in vivo, and its purity was 50–200-fold greater with respect to host cell dsDNA and Vero host cell proteins, than the raw feed stream. The results presented here can be considered a starting point for downstream process development of a live-attenuated vaccine approach for prevention of disease by RSV.     

Production of rVSV-ZEBOV in serum-free suspension culture of HEK 293SF cells

Ebola virus disease is an urgent international priority. Promising results for several vaccine candidates have been reported in non-human primate studies and clinical trials with the most promising being the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine. In this study, we sought to produce rVSV-ZEBOV in HEK 293SF cells in suspension and serum-free media. The purpose of this study was to establish a process using the HEK 293SF production platform, optimise the production titre, demonstrate scalability and the efficiency of the generated material to elicit an immune reaction in an animal model. Critical process parameters were evaluated to maximize production yield and process robustness and the following operating conditions: 1–2 × 10⁶ cells/mL grown in HyClone HyCell TransFx-H media infected at an MOI of 0.001 with a temperature shift to 34 °C during the production phase and a harvest of the product after 48 h. Using these conditions, scalability in a 3.5 L controlled bioreactor was shown reaching a titre of 1.19 × 10⁸ TCID₅₀/mL at the peak of production, the equivalent of 4165 doses of vaccine per litre. The produced virus was shown to be thermostable in the culture media and, when concentrated, purified and administered to mice, demonstrated the ability to induce a ZEBOV-specific immune response.     

Preparation of pure,high titer,pseudoinfectious Flavivirus particles by hollow fiber tangential flow filtration and anion exchange chromatography

Purification of enveloped viruses such as live flavivirus vaccine candidates poses a challenge as one must retain viral infectivity to preserve immunogenicity. Here we describe a laboratory-scale purification procedure for two replication defective (single-cycle) flavivirus variants for use in a pre-clinical setting. The two step purification scheme based on hollow fiber tangential flow filtration (TFF) followed by anion exchange chromatography using convective interaction media (CIM^®) monoliths results in a ∼60% recovery of infectious virus titer and can be used to prepare nearly homogenous, highly purified vaccine viruses with titers as high as 1 × 10⁹ focus forming units per mL. Flavivirus virions prepared by this method are 2 and 3 orders of magnitude more pure with respect to dsDNA and BHK host cell proteins, respectively, as compared to the raw feed stream.     

The efficient development of a novel recombinant adenovirus zoster vaccine perfusion production process

The adenovirus vector vaccines induce humoral and cellular immune responses and have been used to develop vaccines for effective prevention of life-threating viruses, such as Ebola and Coronaviruses. High demand of vaccines worldwide requires optimization of the production process. Perfusion process increases cell concentration and volumetric productivity, so that it becomes the commonly used strategy in vaccine production In this study, we optimized and developed a perfusion process for the adenovirus-based zoster vaccine production efficiently. We first tested different perfusion strategies in shake flasks, showing semi-continuous strategies for optimal HEK 293 cell growth. We then evaluated three empirical key process parameters (cell concentration at the time of infection (VCC), multiplicity of infection (MOI), virus production pH) by the design of experiment (DoE) method, from which the robust setpoint (VCC 1.04 × 10⁷ cells/mL, MOI 9, and virus production pH 7.17) was confirmed in both shake flask and 2 L benchtop bioreactor. In the bioreactor, we compared the performances of two perfusion systems, the commercially-available XCell ATF® system and a novel peristaltic pump-driven alternating tangential flow perfusion system (PATFP system) that we developed. During cell cultivation stage, both perfusion systems have comparable performances regarding viable cell concentration and cell viability. At 2 dpi, the PATFP system resulted in an adenovirus titer of 2.1 × 10¹⁰ IFU/mL and cell-specific virus yield of 2,062 IFU/cell, reaching 75% and 77% of values for XCell ATF® system. This study demonstrates the perfusion process to be superior strategy for adenovirus-based vaccine production compared to the batch-mode strategy (1,467 IFU/cell). Furthermore, our PATFP system shows potential to be comparable to the XCell ATF® system, and it would become an alternative perfusion strategy for the vaccine production.     

人用狂犬病无佐剂纯化疫苗的安全性与免疫原性的初步观察

目的评价国产人用狂犬病无佐剂纯化疫苗(Vero细胞微载体)的安全性和免疫原性。方法对502人(A组)接种人用狂犬病无佐剂纯化疫苗(Vero细胞微载体)另100人(B组)作为对照接种巴斯德公司生产的狂犬病纯化疫苗。采用0、3、7、14和28天程序,观察每针次接种后72小时内局部和全身反应及14天、45天的免疫应答水平。结果所有接种对象均未出现严重局部和全身副反应。首剂免疫14天,A、B组抗体阳性率均达到100%,几何平均滴度为5.2IU/ml和5.6IU/ml。第45天,A组抗体几何平均滴度上升至9.5IU/mll,与B组相似(9.8IU/ml)。结论人用狂犬病无佐剂纯化疫苗(Vero细胞微载体)具有良好安全性和免疫原性。     

Immunogenic response in obese patients undergoing rabies post-exposure prophylaxis with combined equine rabies immunoglobulin and rabies vaccination

BackgroundObesity is a risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality associated with many vaccine preventable infectious diseases such as influenza. Moreover, higher volume of passive rabies immunoglobulin (RIG) due to weight based dosing might suppress vaccine-induced immune responses in obese patients. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of obesity on humoral immune responses to combined equine RIG and rabies vaccine treatment among patients with WHO category III exposure to a rabies suspected animal.MethodsA single centre, prospective, open-labelled study among WHO category III rabies exposed patients was conducted to compare serum rabies virus neutralizing antibody (RVNA) responses measured by rapid fluorescent focus inhibition test between obese (body mass index, BMI > 30 kg/m²) and control (BMI < 25 kg/m²) patients after combined immunization with equine rabies immunoglobulin and purified chick-embryo cell rabies vaccine for post exposure prophylaxis treatment.ResultsPost-vaccination geometric mean titer (GMT) of RVNA concentrations between two groups at day 7 were 0.33 (95% CI: 0.23, 0.46) vs 0.39 (95% CI: 0.27, 0.55), 4.61 (95% CI: 3.20, 6.63) vs 3.78 (95% CI: 2.77, 5.16) at day 14, and 7.45 (95% CI: 5.86, 9.49) vs 5.93 (95%CI: 4.46–7.90) at day 28 for obese and control patients, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference of RVNA GMT between two groups. Seroconversion to at least adequate concentration (RVNA titer ≥0.5 IU/mL) rates were 34% at day 7 and 100% at days 14 and 28 in both groups. There were no immediate hypersensitivity reaction and no serious adverse events observed during the study period.ConclusionsThere was no evidence of immunosuppression of antibodies’ responses in obese patients. Combined ERIG and rabies virus vaccination for post exposure treatment is safe.     

High-cell-density cultivations to increase MVA virus production

Increasing the yield and the productivity in cell culture-based vaccine manufacturing using high-cell-density (HCD) cultivations faces a number of challenges. For example, medium consumption should be low to obtain a very high concentration of viable host cells in an economical way but must be balanced against the requirement that accumulation of toxic metabolites and limitation of nutrients have to be avoided. HCD cultivations should also be optimized to avoid unwanted induction of apoptosis or autophagy during the early phase of virus infection. To realize the full potential of HCD cultivations, a rational analysis of the cultivation conditions of the appropriate host cell line together with the optimal infection conditions for the chosen viral vaccine strain needs to be performed for each particular manufacturing process.We here illustrate our strategy for production of the modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) virus isolate MVA-CR19 in the avian suspension cell line AGE1.CR.pIX at HCD. As a first step we demonstrate that the adjustment of the perfusion rate strictly based on the measured cell concentration and the glucose consumption rate of cells enables optimal growth in a 0.8 L bioreactor equipped with an ATF2 system. Concentrations up to 57 × 10⁶ cells/mL (before infection) were obtained with a viability exceeding 95%, and a maximum specific cell growth rate of 0.019 h⁻¹ (doubling time = 36.5 h). However, not only the cell-specific MVA-CR19 virus yield but also the volumetric productivity was reduced compared to infections at conventional-cell-density (CCD).To facilitate optimization of the virus propagation phase at HCD, a larger set of feeding strategies was analyzed in small-scale cultivations using shake flasks. Densities up to 63 × 10⁶ cells/mL were obtained at the end of the cell growth phase applying a discontinuous perfusion mode (semi-perfusion) with the same cell-specific perfusion rate as in the bioreactor (0.060 nL/(cell d)). At this cell concentration, a medium exchange at time of infection was required to obtain expected virus yields during the first 24 h after infection. Applying an additional fed-batch feeding strategy during the whole virus replication phase resulted in a faster virus titer increase during the first 36 h after infection. In contrast, a semi-continuous virus harvest scheme improved virus accumulation and recovery at a rather later stage of infection. Overall, a combination of both fed-batch and medium exchange strategies resulted in similar cell-specific virus yields as those obtained for CCD processes but 10-fold higher MVA-CR19 titers, and four times higher volumetric productivity.     

狂犬病aG毒株适应3aG-V生产株的特性研究

目的研究狂犬病固定毒Vero细胞适应株3aG-V生产株的生物学特性。方法观察毒株形态、培养条件、致病性、免疫原性、毒力试验及其在中枢神经系统是否形成尼氏小体。结果狂犬病aG固定毒3aG-V株具有抗原性好,培养产毒量高,保持有aG固定株弱毒性、传代稳定、无变异的特性。结论狂犬病aG固定毒3aG-V株可作为替代地鼠肾细胞狂犬病疫苗aG毒株,用于Vero细胞培养病毒生产出毒液毒力高、灭活后效力高、安全性好的纯化Vero细胞狂犬病疫苗的生产用疫苗株。     

A phase II randomized study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of the novel PIKA rabies vaccine containing the PIKA adjuvant using an accelerated regimen

BackgroundHuman Rabies infection continues to be potentially fatal despite the availability of post-exposure prophylaxis with rabies vaccine. The PIKA Rabies vaccine adjuvant is a TLR3 agonist and has been shown to be safe and immunogenic in clinical phase I studies.MethodsWe conducted a phase II, open label, randomized study in healthy adults to assess the safety and immunogenicity of the PIKA rabies vaccine under an accelerated regimen. 126 subjects were randomized into two groups: control vaccine classic regimen (“control-classic”) and PIKA vaccine accelerated regimen (“PIKA-accelerated”). Subjects were followed up for safety and rabies virus neutralizing antibodies (RVNA).ResultsBoth the control and PIKA vaccines were generally well tolerated. 57.6% of subjects in the PIKA vaccine group, compared with 43.8% of subjects in the control-classic group, achieved the target RVNA titer of ≥0.5 IU/mL by Day 7. All subjects achieved the target RVNA titer by Day 14. The RVNA geometric mean titer at Day 7 was 0.60 IU/ml in the PIKA vaccine group and 0.39 IU/ml in the control-classic group. At Day 14, the RVNA geometric mean titer was 18.25 IU/ml in the PIKA-accelerated group and 19.24 IU/ml in the control-classic group. The median time taken to reach the target RVNA titer level of ≥0.5 IU/mL was 7.0 days (95% CI: 7.0–42.0 days) in the PIKA-accelerated group and 14.0 days (95% CI: 7.0–42.0 days) in the control-classic group.ConclusionThe accelerated regimen using the investigational PIKA Rabies vaccine was well-tolerated and demonstrated non-inferior immunogenicity compared to the classic regimen using the commercially available vaccine in healthy adults.Clinical trial registry: The study was registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02956421).