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Luo H, Ma Y, Bi J, Li Z, Wang Y, Su Z, Gerstweiler L, Ren Y, Zhang S. Experimental and molecular dynamics simulation studies on the physical properties of three HBc-VLP derivatives as nanoparticle protein vaccine candidates. Vaccine 2024; 42:125992. [PMID: 38811268 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.05.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Revised: 05/19/2024] [Accepted: 05/20/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024]
Abstract
Self-assembling virus-like particles (VLPs) are promising platforms for vaccine development. However, the unpredictability of the physical properties, such as self-assembly capability, hydrophobicity, and overall stability in engineered protein particles fused with antigens, presents substantial challenges in their downstream processing. We envision that these challenges can be addressed by combining more precise computer-aided molecular dynamics (MD) simulations with experimental studies on the modified products, with more to-date forcefield descriptions and larger models closely resembling real assemblies, realized by rapid advancement in computing technology. In this study, three chimeric designs based on the hepatitis B core (HBc) protein as model vaccine candidates were constructed to study and compare the influence of inserted epitopes as well as insertion strategy on HBc modifications. Large partial VLP models containing 17 chains for the HBc chimeric model vaccines were constructed based on the wild-type (wt) HBc assembly template. The findings from our simulation analysis have demonstrated good consistency with experimental results, pertaining to the surface hydrophobicity and overall stability of the chimeric vaccine candidates. Furthermore, the different impact of foreign antigen insertions on the HBc scaffold was investigated through simulations. It was found that separately inserting two epitopes into the HBc platform at the N-terminal and the major immunogenic regions (MIR) yields better results compared to a serial insertion at MIR in terms of protein structural stability. This study substantiates that an MD-guided design approach can facilitate vaccine development and improve its manufacturing efficiency by predicting products with extreme surface hydrophobicity or structural instability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong Luo
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia; State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery (CAS), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China; Institute of Pharmaceutical and Food Engineering, Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Jinzhong 030619, PR China
| | - Yanyan Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery (CAS), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China
| | - Jingxiu Bi
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia
| | - Zhengjun Li
- State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery (CAS), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China
| | - Yingli Wang
- Institute of Pharmaceutical and Food Engineering, Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Jinzhong 030619, PR China
| | - Zhiguo Su
- State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery (CAS), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China
| | - Lukas Gerstweiler
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5005, Australia.
| | - Ying Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Mesoscience and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China; School of Chemical Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.
| | - Songping Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Key Laboratory of Biopharmaceutical Preparation and Delivery (CAS), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China.
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Gerstweiler L, Billakanti J, Bi J, Middelberg APJ. An integrated and continuous downstream process for microbial virus-like particle vaccine biomanufacture. Biotechnol Bioeng 2022; 119:2122-2133. [PMID: 35478403 PMCID: PMC9542101 DOI: 10.1002/bit.28118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Revised: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we present the first integrated and continuous downstream process for the production of microbial virus‐like particle vaccines. Modular murine polyomavirus major capsid VP1 with integrated J8 antigen was used as a model virus‐like particle vaccine. The integrated continuous downstream process starts with crude cell lysate and consists of a flow‐through chromatography step followed by periodic counter‐current chromatography (PCC) (bind‐elute) using salt‐tolerant mixed‐mode resin and subsequent in‐line assembly. The automated process showed a robust behavior over different inlet feed concentrations ranging from 1.0 to 3.2 mg ml−1 with only minimal adjustments needed, and produced continuously high‐quality virus‐like particles, free of nucleic acids, with constant purity over extended periods of time. The average size remained constant between 44.8 ± 2.3 and 47.2 ± 2.9 nm comparable to literature. The process had an overall product recovery of 88.6% and a process productivity up to 2.56 mg h−1 mlresin−1 in the PCC step, depending on the inlet concentration. Integrating a flow through step with a subsequent PCC step allowed streamlined processing, showing a possible continuous pathway for a wide range of products of interest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Gerstweiler
- The University of Adelaide, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, 5005, Adelaide, Australia
| | - Jagan Billakanti
- Global Life Sciences Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Level 11, 32 Phillip St, Parramatta, NSW, 2150, Australia
| | - Jingxiu Bi
- The University of Adelaide, School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Materials, 5005, Adelaide, Australia
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Gerstweiler L, Billakanti J, Bi J, Middelberg APJ. Control strategy for multi-column continuous periodic counter current chromatography subject to fluctuating inlet stream concentration. J Chromatogr A 2022; 1667:462884. [PMID: 35182911 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2022.462884] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2021] [Revised: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/05/2022] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Fluctuations of the inlet feed stream concentration are a challenge in controlling continuous multi-column counter current chromatography systems with standard methods. We propose a new control strategy based on calculated product column breakthrough from UV sensor signals by neglecting an impurity baseline and instead using the impurity to product ratio. This calculation is independent of the inlet feed concentration. In-silico simulation showed that the proposed method can calculate the product column breakthrough perfectly even with fluctuating and highly unstable inlet feed concentration during a loading cycle. Applying the proposed method to control a three column periodic counter current chromatography process with fluctuating inlet feed concentration resulted in constant column loading in each cycle, while using the standard method failed to do so. Unavoidable band broadening caused by diffusion and dispersion has been identified as an inherent limiting factor for accurate calculation of column breakthrough comparing inlet and outlet UV signals. The proposed advanced calculations increase the robustness of periodic counter current chromatography and extend the capability to process unstable inlet streams.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lukas Gerstweiler
- School of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Material, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.
| | - Jagan Billakanti
- Global Life Sciences Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, Level 11, 32 Phillip St, Parramatta, New South Wales 2150, Australia
| | - Jingxiu Bi
- Division of Research and Innovation, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5000, Australia
| | - Anton P J Middelberg
- Division of Research and Innovation, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide 5000, Australia
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Yin S, Zhang B, Lin J, Liu Y, Su Z, Bi J. Development of purification process for dual-function recombinant human heavy-chain ferritin by the investigation of genetic modification impact on conformation. Eng Life Sci 2021; 21:630-642. [PMID: 34690634 PMCID: PMC8518560 DOI: 10.1002/elsc.202000105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Revised: 05/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Ferritin is a promising drug delivery platform and has been functionalized through genetic modifications. This work has designed and expressed a dual-functional engineered human heavy-chain ferritin (HFn) with the inserted functional peptide PAS and RGDK to extend half-life and improve tumor targeted drug delivery. A facile and cost-effective two-step purification pathway for recombinant HFn was developed. The genetic modification was found to affect HFn conformation, and therefore varied the purification performance. Heat-acid precipitation followed by butyl fast flow hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) has been developed to purify HFn and modified HFns. Nucleic acid removal reached above 99.8% for HFn and modified HFns. However, HFn purity reached above 95% and recovery yield (overall) above 90%, compared with modified HFns purity above 82% and recovery yield (overall) above 58%. It is interesting to find that the inserted functional peptides significantly changed the molecule conformation, where a putative turnover of the E-helix with the inserted functional peptides formed a "flop" conformation, in contrast with the "flip" conformation of HFn. It could be the cause of fragile stability of modified HFns, and therefore less tolerant to heat and acid condition, observed by the lower recovery yield in heat-acid precipitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuang Yin
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced MaterialsFaculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical SciencesUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideAustralia
| | - Bingyang Zhang
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced MaterialsFaculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical SciencesUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideAustralia
| | - Jianying Lin
- College of Biomedical EngineeringTaiyuan University of TechnologyTaiyuanP. R. China
| | - Yongdong Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Biochemistry EngineeringInstitute of Process EngineeringChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingP. R. China
| | - Zhiguo Su
- State Key Laboratory of Biochemistry EngineeringInstitute of Process EngineeringChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingP. R. China
| | - Jingxiu Bi
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced MaterialsFaculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical SciencesUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideAustralia
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Hillebrandt N, Vormittag P, Dietrich A, Wegner CH, Hubbuch J. Process development for cross-flow diafiltration-based VLP disassembly: A novel high-throughput screening approach. Biotechnol Bioeng 2021; 118:3926-3940. [PMID: 34170511 DOI: 10.1002/bit.27868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Revised: 06/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Virus-like particles (VLPs) are particulate structures, which are applied as vaccines or delivery vehicles. VLPs assemble from subunits, named capsomeres, composed of recombinantly expressed viral structural proteins. During downstream processing, in vivo-assembled VLPs are typically dis- and reassembled to remove encapsulated impurities and to improve particle morphology. Disassembly is achieved in a high-pH solution and by the addition of a denaturant or reducing agent. The optimal disassembly conditions depend on the VLP amino acid sequence and structure, thus requiring material-consuming disassembly experiments. To this end, we developed a low-volume and high-resolution disassembly screening that provides time-resolved insight into the VLP disassembly progress. In this study, two variants of C-terminally truncated hepatitis B core antigen were investigated showing different disassembly behaviors. For both VLPs, the best capsomere yield was achieved at moderately high urea concentration and pH. Nonetheless, their disassembly behaviors differed particularly with respect to disassembly rate and aggregation. Based on the high-throughput screening results, a diafiltration-based disassembly process step was developed. Compared with mixing-based disassembly, it resulted in higher yields of up to 0.84 and allowed for integrated purification. This process step was embedded in a filtration-based process sequence of disassembly, capsomere separation, and reassembly, considerably reducing high-molecular-weight species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nils Hillebrandt
- Institute of Engineering in Life Sciences - Section IV: Biomolecular Separation Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
| | - Philipp Vormittag
- Institute of Engineering in Life Sciences - Section IV: Biomolecular Separation Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
| | - Annabelle Dietrich
- Institute of Engineering in Life Sciences - Section IV: Biomolecular Separation Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
| | - Christina H Wegner
- Institute of Engineering in Life Sciences - Section IV: Biomolecular Separation Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
| | - Jürgen Hubbuch
- Institute of Engineering in Life Sciences - Section IV: Biomolecular Separation Engineering, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Zhang B, Yin S, Wang Y, Su Z, Bi J. Cost-effective purification process development for chimeric hepatitis B core (HBc) virus-like particles assisted by molecular dynamic simulation. Eng Life Sci 2021; 21:438-452. [PMID: 34140854 PMCID: PMC8182290 DOI: 10.1002/elsc.202000104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2021] [Revised: 03/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Inserting foreign epitopes to hepatitis B core (HBc) virus-like particles (VLPs) could influence the molecular conformation and therefore vary the purification process. In this study, a cost-effective purification process was developed for two chimeric HBc VLPs displaying Epstein-Barr nuclear antigens 1 (EBNA1), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) core. Both chimeric VLPs were expressed in soluble form with high production yields in Escherichia coli. Molecular dynamic (MD) simulation was employed to predict the stability of chimeric VLPs. HCV core-HBc was found to be less stable in water environment compared with EBNA1-HBc, indicating its higher hydrophobicity. Assisting with MD simulation, ammonium sulfate precipitation was optimized to remove host cell proteins with high target protein recovery yields. Moreover, 99% DNA impurities were removed using POROS 50 HQ chromatography. In characterization measurement, we found that inserting HCV core epitope would reduce the ratio of α-helix of HCV core-HBc. This could be another reason on the top of its higher hydrophobicity predicted by MD simulation, causing its less stability. Tertiary structure, transmission electron microscopy, and immunogenicity results indicate that two chimeric VLPs maintained correct VLP structure ensuring its bioactivity after being processed by the developed cost-effective purification approach.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bingyang Zhang
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical SciencesUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
| | - Shuang Yin
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical SciencesUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
| | - Yingli Wang
- School of Chinese Medicine and Food EngineeringShanxi University of Traditional Chinese MedicineJinzhongShanxi ProvinceP. R. China
| | - Zhiguo Su
- State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process EngineeringChinese Academy of SciencesBeijingP. R. China
| | - Jingxiu Bi
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, Faculty of Engineering, Computer and Mathematical SciencesUniversity of AdelaideAdelaideSAAustralia
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