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

Animal Cell Lines as Expression Platforms in Viral Vaccine Production: A Post Covid-19 Perspective

Vaccines are considered the most effective tools for preventing diseases. In this sense, with the Covid-19 pandemic, the effects of which continue all over the world, humanity has once again remembered the importance of the vaccine. Also, with the various epidemic outbreaks that occurred previously, the development processes of effective vaccines against these viral pathogens have accelerated. By these efforts, many different new vaccine platforms have been approved for commercial use and have been introduced to the commercial landscape. In addition, innovations have been made in the production processes carried out with conventionally produced vaccine types to create a rapid response to prevent potential epidemics or pandemics. In this situation, various cell lines are being positioned at the center of the production processes of these new generation viral vaccines as expression platforms. Therefore, since the main goal is to produce a fast, safe, and effective vaccine to prevent the disease, in addition to existing expression systems, different cell lines that have not been used in vaccine production until now have been included in commercial production for the first time. In this review, first current viral vaccine types in clinical use today are described. Then, the reason for using cell lines, which are the expression platforms used in the production of these viral vaccines, and the general production processes of cell culture-based viral vaccines are mentioned. Also, selection parameters for animal cell lines as expression platforms in vaccine production are explained by considering bioprocess efficiency and current regulations. Finally, all different cell lines used in cell culture-based viral vaccine production and their properties are summarized, with an emphasis on the current and future status of cell cultures in industrial viral vaccine production.

From single-cell cloning to high-yield influenza virus production - implementing advanced technologies in vaccine process development

Innovations in viral vaccine manufacturing are crucial for pandemic preparedness and to meet ever-rising global demands. For influenza, however, production still mainly relies on technologies established decades ago. Although modern production shifts from egg-based towards cell culture technologies, the full potential has not yet been fully exploited. Here, we evaluate whether implementation of state-of-the-art technologies for cell culture-based recombinant protein production are capable to challenge outdated approaches in viral vaccine process development. For this, a fully automated single-cell cloning strategy was established to generate monoclonal suspension Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells. Among selected cell clones, we could observe distinct metabolic and growth characteristics, with C59 reaching a maximum viable cell concentration of 17.3 × 106 cells/mL and low doubling times in batch mode. Screening for virus production using a panel of human vaccine-relevant influenza A and B viruses in an ambr15 system revealed high titers with yields competing or even outperforming available MDCK cell lines. With C113, we achieved cell-specific virus yields of up to 25,000 virions/cell, making this cell clone highly attractive for vaccine production. Finally, we confirmed process performance at a 50-fold higher working volume. In summary, we present a scalable and powerful approach for accelerated development of high-yield influenza virus production in chemically defined medium starting from a single cell.

Evaluation of the Robustness Verification of Downstream Production Process for Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine and Different Chromatography Medium Purification Effects

BACKGROUND

Large-scale vaccine production requires downstream processing that focuses on robustness, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

METHODS

To assess the robustness of the current vaccine production process, three batches of COVID-19 Omicron BA.1 strain hydrolytic concentrated solutions were selected. Four gel filtration chromatography media (Chromstar 6FF, Singarose FF, Bestarose 6B, and Focurose 6FF) and four ion exchange chromatography media (Maxtar Q, Q Singarose, Diamond Q, and Q Focurose) were used to evaluate their impact on vaccine purification. The quality of the vaccine was assessed by analyzing total protein content, antigen content, residual Vero cell DNA, residual Vero cell protein, and residual bovine serum albumin (BSA). Antigen recovery rate and specific activity were also calculated. Statistical analysis was conducted to evaluate process robustness and the purification effects of the chromatography media.

RESULTS

The statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in antigen recovery (p = 0.10), Vero HCP residue (p = 0.59), Vero DNA residue (p = 0.28), and BSA residue (p = 0.97) among the three batches of hydrolytic concentrated solutions processed according to the current method. However, a significant difference (p < 0.001) was observed in antigen content.

CONCLUSIONS

The study demonstrated the remarkable robustness of the current downstream process for producing WIBP-CorV vaccines. This process can adapt to different batches of hydrolytic concentrated solutions and various chromatography media. The research is crucial for the production of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and provides a potential template for purifying other viruses.

Characterization of a quail suspension cell line for production of a fusogenic oncolytic virus

The development of efficient processes for the production of oncolytic viruses (OV) plays a crucial role regarding the clinical success of virotherapy. Although many different OV platforms are currently under investigation, manufacturing of such viruses still mainly relies on static adherent cell cultures, which bear many challenges, particularly for fusogenic OVs. Availability of GMP-compliant continuous cell lines is limited, further complicating the development of commercially viable products. BHK21, AGE1. CR and HEK293 cells were previously identified as possible cell substrates for the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV)-based fusogenic OV, rVSV-NDV. Now, another promising cell substrate was identified, the CCX.E10 cell line, developed by Nuvonis Technologies. This suspension cell line is considered non-GMO as no foreign genes or viral sequences were used for its development. The CCX.E10 cells were thus thoroughly investigated as a potential candidate for OV production. Cell growth in the chemically defined medium in suspension resulted in concentrations up to 8.9 × 106 cells/mL with a doubling time of 26.6 h in batch mode. Cultivation and production of rVSV-NDV, was demonstrated successfully for various cultivation systems (ambr15, shake flask, stirred tank reactor, and orbitally shaken bioreactor) at vessel scales ranging from 15 mL to 10 L. High infectious virus titers of up to 4.2 × 108 TCID50 /mL were reached in orbitally shaken bioreactors and stirred tank reactors in batch mode, respectively. Our results suggest that CCX.E10 cells are a very promising option for industrial production of OVs, particularly for fusogenic VSV-based constructs.

Application of bioreactor technology for cell culture-based viral vaccine production: Present status and future prospects

Bioreactors are widely used in cell culture-based viral vaccine production, especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this context, the development and application of bioreactors can provide more efficient and cost-effective vaccine production to meet the global vaccine demand. The production of viral vaccines is inseparable from the development of upstream biological processes. In particular, exploration at the laboratory-scale is urgently required for further development. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the existing upstream biological processes, to enable the selection of pilot-scale conditions for academic and industrial scientists to maximize the yield and quality of vaccine development and production. Reviewing methods for optimizing the upstream process of virus vaccine production, this review discusses the bioreactor concepts, significant parameters and operational strategies related to large-scale amplification of virus. On this basis, a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the various process optimization methods for the production of various viruses (SARS-CoV-2, Influenza virus, Tropical virus, Enterovirus, Rabies virus) in bioreactors is presented. Meanwhile, the types of viral vaccines are briefly introduced, and the established animal cell lines for vaccine production are described. In addition, it is emphasized that the co-development of bioreactor and computational biology is urgently needed to meet the challenges posed by the differences in upstream production scales between the laboratory and industry.

Influenza Vaccine: An Engineering Vision from Virological Importance to Production

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO) every year, millions of people are affected by flu. Flu is a disease caused by influenza viruses. For preventing this, seasonal influenza vaccinations are widely considered the most efficient way to protect against the negative effects of the flu. To date, there is no "one-size-fits-all" vaccine that can be effective all over the world to protect against all seasonal or pandemic influenza virus types. Because influenza virus transforms its genetic structure and it can emerges as immunogenically new (antigenic drift) which causes epidemics or new virus subtype (antigenic shift) which causes pandemics. As a result, annual revaccination or new subtype viral vaccine development is required. Currently, three types of vaccines (inactivated, live attenuated, and recombinant) are approved in different countries. These can be named "conventional influenza vaccines" and their production are based on eggs or cell culture. Although, there is good effort to develop new influenza vaccines for broader and longer period of time protection. In this sense these candidate vaccines are called "universal influenza vaccines". In this article, after we mentioned the short history of flu then virus morphology and infection, we explained the diseases caused by the influenza virus in humans. Afterward, we explained in detail the production methods of available influenza vaccines, types of bioreactors used in cell culture based production, conventional and new vaccine types, and development strategies for better vaccines.

Impact of Protein Glycosylation on the Design of Viral Vaccines

Glycans play crucial roles in various biological processes such as cell proliferation, cell-cell interactions, and immune responses. Since viruses co-opt cellular biosynthetic pathways, viral glycosylation mainly depends on the host cell glycosylation machinery. Consequently, several viruses exploit the cellular glycosylation pathway to their advantage. It was shown that viral glycosylation is strongly dependent on the host system selected for virus propagation and/or protein expression. Therefore, the use of different expression systems results in various glycoforms of viral glycoproteins that may differ in functional properties. These differences clearly illustrate that the choice of the expression system can be important, as the resulting glycosylation may influence immunological properties. In this review, we will first detail protein N- and O-glycosylation pathways and the resulting glycosylation patterns; we will then discuss different aspects of viral glycosylation in pathogenesis and in vaccine development; and finally, we will elaborate on how to harness viral glycosylation in order to optimize the design of viral vaccines. To this end, we will highlight specific examples to demonstrate how glycoengineering approaches and exploitation of different expression systems could pave the way towards better self-adjuvanted glycan-based viral vaccines.

Site-specific N-glycosylation analysis of animal cell culture-derived Zika virus proteins

Here, we present for the first time, a site-specific N-glycosylation analysis of proteins from a Brazilian Zika virus (ZIKV) strain. The virus was propagated with high yield in an embryo-derived stem cell line (EB66, Valneva SE), and concentrated by g-force step-gradient centrifugation. Subsequently, the sample was proteolytically digested with different enzymes, measured via a LC–MS/MS-based workflow, and analyzed in a semi-automated way using the in-house developed glyXtool^MS software. The viral non-structural protein 1 (NS1) was glycosylated exclusively with high-mannose structures on both potential N-glycosylation sites. In case of the viral envelope (E) protein, no specific N-glycans could be identified with this method. Nevertheless, N-glycosylation could be proved by enzymatic de-N-glycosylation with PNGase F, resulting in a strong MS-signal of the former glycopeptide with deamidated asparagine at the potential N-glycosylation site N444. This confirmed that this site of the ZIKV E protein is highly N-glycosylated but with very high micro-heterogeneity. Our study clearly demonstrates the progress made towards site-specific N-glycosylation analysis of viral proteins, i.e. for Brazilian ZIKV. It allows to better characterize viral isolates, and to monitor glycosylation of major antigens. The method established can be applied for detailed studies regarding the impact of protein glycosylation on antigenicity and human pathogenicity of many viruses including influenza virus, HIV and corona virus.

High cell density perfusion process for high yield of influenza A virus production using MDCK suspension cells

Similar to the recent COVID-19 pandemic, influenza A virus poses a constant threat to the global community. For the treatment of flu disease, both antivirals and vaccines are available with vaccines the most effective and safest approach. In order to overcome limitations in egg-based vaccine manufacturing, cell culture-based processes have been established. While this production method avoids egg-associated risks in face of pandemics, process intensification using animal suspension cells in high cell density perfusion cultures should allow to further increase manufacturing capacities worldwide. In this work, we demonstrate the development of a perfusion process using Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) suspension cells for influenza A (H1N1) virus production from scale-down shake flask cultivations to laboratory scale stirred tank bioreactors. Shake flask cultivations using semi-perfusion mode enabled high-yield virus harvests (4.25 log₁₀(HAU/100 μL)) from MDCK cells grown up to 41 × 10⁶ cells/mL. Scale-up to bioreactors with an alternating tangential flow (ATF) perfusion system required optimization of pH control and implementation of a temperature shift during the infection phase. Use of a capacitance probe for on-line perfusion control allowed to minimize medium consumption. This contributed to a better process control and a more economical performance while maintaining a maximum virus titer of 4.37 log₁₀(HAU/100 μL) and an infectious virus titer of 1.83 × 10¹⁰ virions/mL. Overall, this study clearly demonstrates recent advances in cell culture-based perfusion processes for next-generation high-yield influenza vaccine manufacturing for pandemic preparedness. KEY POINTS: • First MDCK suspension cell-based perfusion process for IAV produciton was established. • "Cell density effect" was overcome and process was intensified by reduction of medium use and automated process control. • The process achieved cell density over 40 × 10⁶ cells/mL and virus yield over 4.37 log₁₀(HAU/100 μL).

OP7, a novel influenza A virus defective interfering particle: production, purification, and animal experiments demonstrating antiviral potential

Abstract

The novel influenza A virus (IAV) defective interfering particle “OP7” inhibits IAV replication in a co-infection and was previously suggested as a promising antiviral agent. Here, we report a batch-mode cell culture-based production process for OP7. In the present study, a seed virus containing standard virus (STV) and OP7 was used. The yield of OP7 strongly depended on the production multiplicity of infection. To inactivate infectious STV in the OP7 material, which may cause harm in a potential application, UV irradiation was used. The efficacy of OP7 in this material was preserved, as shown by an in vitro interference assay. Next, steric exclusion chromatography was used to purify and to concentrate (~ 13-fold) the UV-treated material. Finally, administration of produced OP7 material in mice did not show any toxic effects. Furthermore, all mice infected with a lethal dose of IAV survived the infection upon OP7 co-treatment. Thus, the feasibility of a production workflow for OP7 and its potential for antiviral treatment was demonstrated.

Key points

• OP7 efficacy strongly depended on the multiplicity of infection used for production

• Purification by steric exclusion chromatography increased OP7 efficacy

• OP7-treated mice were protected against a lethal infection with IAV

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00253-020-11029-5.

Highly efficient production of an influenza H9N2 vaccine using MDCK suspension cells

The use of H9N2 subtype avian influenza vaccines is an effective approach for the control of the virus spread among the poultry, and for the upgrading of vaccine manufacturing, cell culture-based production platform could overcome the limitations of conventional egg-based platform and alternate it. The development of serum-free suspension cell culture could allow even higher virus productivity, where a suspension cell line with good performance and proper culture strategies are required. In this work, an adherent Mardin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell line was adapted to suspension growth to cell concentration up to 12 × 106 cells/mL in a serum-free medium in batch cultures. Subsequently, the H9N2 influenza virus propagation in this MDCK cell line was evaluated with the optimization of infection conditions in terms of MOI and cell concentration for infection. Furthermore, various feed strategies were tested in the infection phase for improved virus titer and a maximum hemagglutinin titer of 13 log2 (HAU/50 μL) was obtained using the 1:2 medium dilution strategy. The evaluation of MDCK cell growth and H9N2 virus production in bioreactors with optimized operating conditions showed comparable cell performance and virus yield compared to shake flasks, with a high cell-specific virus yield above 13,000 virions/cell. With the purified H9N2 virus harvested from the bioreactors, the MDCK cell-derived vaccine was able to induce high titers of neutralizing antibodies in chickens. Overall, the results demonstrate the promising application of the highly efficient MDCK cell-based production platform for the avian influenza vaccine manufacturing.

Production of Modified Vaccinia Ankara Virus by Intensified Cell Cultures: A Comparison of Platform Technologies for Viral Vector Production

Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) virus is a promising vector for vaccination against various challenging pathogens or the treatment of some types of cancers, requiring a high amount of virions per dose for vaccination and gene therapy. Upstream process intensification combining perfusion technologies, the avian suspension cell line AGE1.CR.pIX and the virus strain MVA-CR19 is an option to obtain very high MVA yields. Here the authors compare different options for cell retention in perfusion mode using conventional stirred-tank bioreactors. Furthermore, the authors study hollow-fiber bioreactors and an orbital-shaken bioreactor in perfusion mode, both available for single-use. Productivity for the virus strain MVA-CR19 is compared to results from batch and continuous production reported in literature. The results demonstrate that cell retention devices are only required to maximize cell concentration but not for continuous harvesting. Using a stirred-tank bioreactor, a perfusion strategy with working volume expansion after virus infection results in the highest yields. Overall, infectious MVA virus titers of 2.1-16.5 × 10⁹  virions/mL are achieved in these intensified processes. Taken together, the study shows a novel perspective on high-yield MVA virus production in conventional bioreactor systems linked to various cell retention devices and addresses options for process intensification including fully single-use perfusion platforms.

Application of an Inclined Settler for Cell Culture-Based Influenza A Virus Production in Perfusion Mode

Influenza viruses have been successfully propagated using a variety of animal cell lines in batch, fed-batch, and perfusion culture. For suspension cells, most studies reported on membrane-based cell retention devices typically leading to an accumulation of viruses in the bioreactor in perfusion mode. Aiming at continuous virus harvesting for improved productivities, an inclined settler was evaluated for influenza A virus (IAV) production using the avian suspension cell line AGE1.CR.pIX. Inclined settlers present many advantages as they are scalable, robust, and comply with cGMP regulations, e.g., for recombinant protein manufacturing. Perfusion rates up to 3000 L/day have been reported. In our study, successful growth of AGE1.CR.pIX cells up to 50 × 10⁶ cells/mL and a cell retention efficiency exceeding 96% were obtained with the settler cooled to room temperature. No virus retention was observed. A total of 5.4-6.5 × 10¹³ virions were produced while a control experiment with an ATF system equaled to 1.9 × 10¹³ virions. For infection at 25 × 10⁶ cells/mL, cell-specific virus yields up to 3474 virions/cell were obtained, about 5-fold higher than for an ATF based cultivation performed as a control (723 virions/cell). Trypsin activity was shown to have a large impact on cell growth dynamics after infection following the cell retention device, especially at a cell concentration of 50 × 10⁶ cells/mL. Further control experiments performed with an acoustic settler showed that virus production was improved with a heat exchanger of the inclined settler operated at 27°C. In summary, cell culture-based production of viruses in perfusion mode with an inclined settler and continuous harvesting can drastically increase IAV yields and possibly the yield of other viruses. To our knowledge, this is the first report to show the potential of this device for viral vaccine production.

Glycomics and glycoproteomics of viruses: Mass spectrometry applications and insights toward structure-function relationships

The advancement of viral glycomics has paralleled that of the mass spectrometry glycomics toolbox. In some regard the glycoproteins studied have provided the impetus for this advancement. Viral proteins are often highly glycosylated, especially those targeted by the host immune system. Glycosylation tends to be dynamic over time as viruses propagate in host populations leading to increased number of and/or "movement" of glycosylation sites in response to the immune system and other pressures. This relationship can lead to highly glycosylated, difficult to analyze glycoproteins that challenge the capabilities of modern mass spectrometry. In this review, we briefly discuss five general areas where glycosylation is important in the viral niche and how mass spectrometry has been used to reveal key information regarding structure-function relationships between viral glycoproteins and host cells. We describe the recent past and current glycomics toolbox used in these analyses and give examples of how the requirement to analyze these complex glycoproteins has provided the incentive for some advances seen in glycomics mass spectrometry. A general overview of viral glycomics, special cases, mass spectrometry methods and work-flows, informatics and complementary chemical techniques currently used are discussed. © 2020 The Authors. Mass Spectrometry Reviews published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Mass Spec Rev.

Performance of an acoustic settler versus a hollow fiber-based ATF technology for influenza virus production in perfusion

Process intensification and integration is crucial regarding an ever increasing pressure on manufacturing costs and capacities in biologics manufacturing. For virus production in perfusion mode, membrane-based alternating tangential flow filtration (ATF) and acoustic settler are the commonly described cell retention technologies. While acoustic settlers allow for continuous influenza virus harvesting, the use of commercially available membranes for ATF systems typically results in the accumulation of virus particles in the bioreactor vessel. Accordingly, with one single harvest at the end of a cultivation, this increases the risk of lowering the product quality. To assess which cell retention device would be most suitable for influenza A virus production, we compared various key performance figures using AGE1.CR.pIX cells at concentrations between 25 and 50 × 106 cells/mL at similar infection conditions using either an ATF system or an acoustic settler. Production yields, process-related impurities, and aggregation of viruses and other large molecules were evaluated. Taking into account the total number of virions from both the bioreactor and the harvest vessel, a 1.5-3.0-fold higher volumetric virus yield was obtained for the acoustic settler. In addition, fewer large-sized aggregates (virus particles and other molecules) were observed in the harvest taken directly from the bioreactor. In contrast, similar levels of process-related impurities (host cell dsDNA, total protein) were obtained in the harvest for both retention systems. Overall, a clear advantage was observed for continuous virus harvesting after the acoustic settler operation mode was optimized. This development may also allow direct integration of subsequent downstream processing steps. KEY POINTS: • High suspension cell density, immortalized avian cell line, influenza vaccine.