Quality control of recovered plasma for fractionation: an extensive Italian study

Effect of prolonged storage on quality characteristics of recovered plasma: Is there an expiration date?

BACKGROUND

Although there are guidelines on industrial manufacture of plasma-derived medicinal products, there are no clear recommendations about plasma intended for fractionation, as there is no expiry time and the effect of prolonged storage on the activity of coagulation factors is unknown.

STUDY AND DESIGN METHODS

A total of 237 units of plasma stored at -30°C in the National Blood Transfusion Centre for 1 year (62 units), 5 years (75 units), and 10 years (100 units) were studied. The effect of storage time was investigated by determining the activity of clotting factors FII, FV, FVII, FVIII, FIX, FX, FXI, FXII, FXIII using coagulometric methods and antithrombin III and fibrinogen with chromogenic assays, using System BCS^R  > XP (Siemens Healthcare diagnostics Marburg, Germany). Albumin was measured by Medilyzer (BX, Medicon). ABO blood group was recorded and correlated with the levels of FVIII. Comparison of values between one and five, 1 and 10 and 5 and 10 years of storage was performed via the SAS for Windows 9.4 software platform (SAS Institute Inc., NC, U.S.A.).

RESULTS

Albumin, AT III, fibrinogen, FIX, FXI, FXII, and FXIII remain rather stable even after 10 years of storage. Levels of FII, FV, FVII, FVIII, and FX decreased after 5 years of storage.

DISCUSSION

Our study is in agreement with all the previous studies and concludes that there is a putative usability of recovered plasma and some of its coagulation factors after many years of storage at the recommended temperature.

Extending the pre-processing holding time of whole blood beyond 48 h reduces coagulation FVIII activity and immunoglobulin G content of recovered plasma

BACKGROUND

Plasma obtained via whole blood (WB) donation may be used either for transfusion or as recovered plasma (RP) for pooling and fractionation. In Canada, transfusable plasma must be processed within 24 h of phlebotomy, while the limit for RP processing is 72 h. We assessed the quality of RP produced by two WB processing methods and as a function of processing time.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

RP units produced via the buffy coat method (BCM, n = 26) or whole blood filtration (WBF, n = 52) were tested for: the activities of prothrombin, fibrinogen, von Willebrand Factor (VWF), FV, FVII, and FVIII; the prothrombin time (PT); and total protein and IgG concentration. WBF RP units were evenly divided between those processed <48 h of phlebotomy (shorter-processed) or 48-72 h after phlebotomy (longer-processed).

RESULTS

WBF-RP did not differ significantly from BCM-RP in any tested parameter except for FV and FVIII, which exhibited mean reductions of 10.2% and 20%, respectively. Longer-processed WBF-RP did not differ significantly from shorter-processed WBF-RP in any tested parameter except for FVIII activity and IgG concentration, which exhibited mean reductions of 30.1% and 14.3%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Canadian RP is currently fractionated into IgG, albumin, fibrinogen, and FVII/VWF concentrates irrespective of its method or time of processing. Our results supported the current approach of fractionating both BCM- and WBF-derived RP, but suggest that greater yields of immunoglobulin and FVIII/VWF products could be obtained if the maximum processing time was reduced from 72 h to 48 h.

Solvent/detergent plasma: pharmaceutical characteristics and clinical experience

The solvent/detergent treatment is an established virus inactivation technology that has been industrially applied for manufacturing plasma derived medicinal products for almost 30 years. Solvent/detergent plasma is a pharmaceutical product with standardised content of clotting factors, devoid of antibodies implicated in transfusion-related acute lung injury pathogenesis, and with a very high level of decontamination from transfusion-transmissible infectious agents. Many clinical studies have confirmed its safety and efficacy in the setting of congenital as well as acquired bleeding disorders. This narrative review will focus on the pharmaceutical characteristics of solvent/detergent plasma and the clinical experience with this blood product.