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2008

Anion-exchange chromatography is fundamental in downstream processing of plasmids both as a process and analytical technique. CIM anion-exchange monolithic columns have already been successfully used for the industrial scale purification of pharmaceutical grade small plasmid DNA [1].

In this work we report about the use of the newly developed monolithic analytical column intended for plasmid DNA determination in terms of its analytical performance. Higher degree of sensitivity, precision and accuracy is necessary in order to determine the quality of clinical grade DNA intended for therapeutic use. Plasmids purified from Escherichia coli fermentation exist predominantly in the supercoiled form (SC) the other two topoisomers present in the final product are mostly the open circular (OC) and linear forms [2]. Different chromatographic conditions were tested and the separation was optimized in terms of buffer and pH selection as well as in terms of gradient slope and column length. The results were compared to the results obtained with established analytical methods.

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During last decades different methods for purification of influenza viruses have been described. Most of these methods were developed for purification of egg derived influenza virus which is still the main production system for influenza vaccine viruses. Since cell culture based technology is gaining more and more importance, the need for alternative, efficient and scaleable purification methods has risen. Chromatography is becoming a method of choice for purification of viruses. Relevance of this technique was recently demonstrated also for influenza viruses. Methacrylate monoliths are characterized by large channel diameter, high surface accessibility and convective mass transport. As a consequence they have high binding capacity for large molecules, enable high flow rates at low pressure drop and therefore increase productivity. Recently it has been proven that methacrylate monolithic columns can also be used for purification and concentration of different viruses.

It was the purpose of this work to explore possibilities for purification of influenza viruses on ion exchange methacrylate monoliths. Different subtypes of influenza A and influenza B virus were tested employing various ion exhange monolithic columns.

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During the last decade important developments in molecular medicine and adenoviral vector design have been achieved, leading to an increased use of adenoviral vectors in clinical gene therapy protocols. One of the main advantages of the adenovirus is their ability to replicate at high titres in permisive cell lines. The availability of large quantities of adenoviral vector preparations is recognized as an important limitation to pre-clinical and clinical studies. Consequently there is a global focus on large scale production of adenoviral vectors, providing high titres combined with fast, effective and reliable purification methods.

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2006

Gene therapy has already shown some great results in treatment and cure of some monogene diseases, such as diabetes. While the use of genetically modified viruses raises safety concerns, synthetic formulations of genes inserted in plasmids are regarded as safer. At present, most clinical trials involve plasmids smaller than 10 kb. However, the concern that regulation of the functioning of the gene is ensured together with the expectation of the progression of gene therapy to multigene disfunctions, like cancer or complex nevrodegenerative disfunctions (Alzheimer disease), will require the production of larger plasmids [1].

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2005

The rapidly growing interest in the area of proteomics induces intensive efforts to find robust, automated and sensitive high-throughput analytical tools. In this context, the concept of solid-phase digestion (ex. trypsin immobilization on a solid support[1]) has received great attention in the last years. Trypsin (EC 3.4.21.4) has been covalently immobilized on different monolithic supports and resulting bioreactors used as immobilized enzyme reactors (IMERs) for on-line digestion, peptide separation and peptide mapping. Bioreactors efficiencies were evaluated with different recombinant proteins after on-line digestion. The technique used for the separation and identification of peptides was high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionisation tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS).

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Plasmids are excellent genetic vectors and have been widely used in gene manipulation and recombinant DNA technology for a long time. In recent years, plasmids are intensively investigated for gene therapy purposes and genetic vaccination. In this case, plasmid DNA (pDNA) of high purity is required. To follow such demands, several chromatographic steps are commonly needed. In the case of buffer compatibility, columns can be connected in-line to overcome time consuming and yield lowering multiple chromatographic steps. Since each of the unit operations contributes to the dispersion, the resolution is further decreased by each chromatographic step. This drawback might be surmounted by combining several chromatography steps into a single chromatography column. This approach is known as multidimensional or conjoint liquid chromatography (CLC).

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Viruses have proven to be useful vectors for gene therapy purposes. As therapeutics for human use they must be pure and contaminant free. Traditionally, viruses are purified by complicated and time consuming methods such as CsCl density gradient centrifugation or similar. In recent years liquid chromatography has became interesting method for virus purification. It provides high level of purity required for human use and increases productivity. Traditional chromatographic supports were mostly designed for purification of proteins and as such are commonly inappropriate for viruses. Alternative to traditional chromatographic support are methacrylate monoliths (CIM monoliths), characterized by large channel diameter, high surface accessibility and convective mass transport.

The aim of this work was to characterize CIM supports for separation and possible purification of a model virus Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) from crude plant material.

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2004

By using a combination of two CIM® tube monolithic columns, OH and DEAE chemistry, we were able to successfully purify plasmid DNA from bacterial culture without using RNase. Purified plasmid DNA is very pure, since common contaminants, such as proteins, genomic DNA, endotoxins and RNA were under the detection limit. The scale up units produced according to cGMP standard are already used for the purification of plasmid DNA for gene therapy purposes on industrial scale.

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Traditionally, viruses are purified by time consuming methods such as CsCl density gradient centrifugation or similar. These methods are often inefficient and limited to small scale. In recent years different methods for virus purification, based on ion exchange, gel filtration and affinity chromatography have became popular. Recently, CIM® disk monolithic columns were used for successful concentration of two plant viruses (1) and for improved detection of two human viruses (2). Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) were concentrated and subsequently detected from extremely diluted samples in which they were initially undetectable. Successful concentrations of both viruses encourage us to explore the possibilities of CIM® supports for virus purification. As a model virus ToMV was selected. ToMV is a rod shaped plant virus with a typical size of 300 x 18 nm and isoelectric point at pH 4.6.

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2003

The only four drugs approved for the clinical treatment of Alzheirner’s Disease (tacrine. rivastigmine, donepezil and galantamine) are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors which act by maintaining high levels of acetylcholine at the muscarinic and nicotinic receptors in the central nervous system. Human acetylcholinesterase (HuAChE) represents a widely studied target enzyme and it is still object of research for the development of new drugs as enzyme inhibitors.

In a previous paper we reported the immobilisation of AChE on a silica based chromatographic column (50 x 4.6 mm 1.0.) The yeld of immobilization and the stability of the AChE-IMER were considered satisfactory, but some problems arose. The length of the IMER and the large amount of enzyme covalently bound to the chromatographic support resulted in catalysis product long elution times and some inhibitors aspecific matrix absorption with delayed enzyme activity recovery. In order to avoid these complications and considering the high rate of AChE enzymatic reaction. we decided to reduce the dimension of the solid support for immobilization, hence the amount of immobilized enzyme, by selecting a monolithic matrix disk (12 x 3 mm I.D.).

CIM® (Convective Interaction Media) monolithic supports (Biaseparations. Lubiana) represent a novel generation of stationary phases used for liquid chromatography, bioconversions, and solid phase synthesis. As opposed to individual particles packed into chromatographic columns, CIM® supports are cast as continuous homogeneous phases and provide high rates of mass transfer at lower back pressure.

In the present work a CIMK disk with immobilised human recombinant acetylcholinesterase (HuAChE-ClM® Disk) was developed. The activity of immohilised enzyme, the long term stability and reproducibility were tested. HuAChE-CIM® disk was applied as an immobilised enzyme micro-reactor (micro-IMER) in on-line HPLC system for inhibitory potency determination of known AChE inhibitors.

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Plasmids are episomes that have been recognized in few eukaryotic and most prokaryotic species. Some plasmids are excellent genetic vectors and they have been widely used in gene manipulation and recombinant DNA technology for a long time. In recent years plasmids were intensively used for gene therapy purposes (1). Most often purification starts with the cells harvest followed by alkaline lysis step in which ribonuclease A (RNase) is typically used. After that, plasmid DNA can be precipitated and used directly or can be further purified by different methods (2). Currently, several chromatographic methods, such as ion-exchange, size exclusion, affinity, and hydrophobic chromatography, have been demonstrated in plasmid purification (3). Until now a limited number of small scale purification methods without use of RNase were published. Convective Interaction Media CIM® is a monolithic chromatographic support for which has been shown that is very efficient for the separation of large molecules, such as proteins, DNA and viruses (4).

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Traces of DNA in RNA samples represent impurities that could affect results of mRNA quantification and cDNA synthesis. In most cases, the DNA impurities in RNA samples are removed using enzyme deoxyribonuclease (DNase), which specifically breaks down DNA. In order to avoid the addition of DNase into the analyzing sample, the use of immobilized DNase on solid support is recommended. Because of the DNA size, very few supports available on the market enable efficient interaction between immobilized enzyme and DNA.

In recent years a new group of supports named monoliths was introduced. Because of enhanced exchange between mobile and stationary phase separation and bioconversion processes are significantly accelerated. Therefore also the efficiency of DNA removal using immobilised enzyme might be competitive to the degradation with free enzyme.

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Plasmids are episomes that have been recognized in few eukaryotic and most prokaryotic species. Some plasmids are excellent genetic vectors and they have been widely used in gene manipulation and recombinant DNA technology for a long time. In recent years plasmids were intensively used for gene therapy purposes (1).Most often purification starts with the cells harvest followed by alkaline lysis step in which ribonucleaseA (RNase) is typically used. After that plasmid DNA can be precipitated and used directly or can be further purified by different methods (2).Currently, several chromatographic methods, such as ion-exchange, size exclusion, affinity, and hydrophobic chromatography, have been demonstrated in plasmid purification (3). Until now a limited number of small scale purification methods without use of RNase were published. Convective Interaction Media CIM®is a monolithic chromatographic support for which has been shown that is very efficient for the separation of large molecules, such as proteins, DNA and viruses (4).

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2002

The progress in gene-therapy and DNA vaccination leads to a growing demand of therapeutic applicable plasmid DNA (pDNA). To guarantee the supply for the clinical trials and finally for the market new pDNA production processes, which meet all regulatory requirements, have to be developed. Conventional small scale techniques can not easily be transferred to the manufacturing scale (technical reasons and safety considerations). We developed a generic large scale process for highly purified plasmids “free” of bacterial contaminants which works without enzymes, detergents (except SDS during the cell lysis) and organic solvents.

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Most commonly plasmids are manufactured by fermentation of E. coli. In the cells several isoforms of the plasmid are generated: supercoiled (sc), open circular (oc) and linear as well as dimeric forms. After alkaline lysis plasmids are accompanied in solution by genomic DNA (gDNA), RNA, proteins and other cell compounds [1]. In addition to these impurities, the plasmid isoforms have to be separated efficiently in order to get a final product containing > 95 % of ccc form [2]. Chromatographic resins used in biotechnology are usually designed for the separation of polypeptides, providing only low capacity for polynucleotides (< 1 mg/mL).

In this work we present an optimised purification step for large scale purification of therapeutic applicable pDNA, based on an alternative chromatography resin (CIM Convective Interaction Media®).

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2000

Production and downstream processing in biotechnology requires fast and accurate control of each step in the process. Liquid chromatography of biopolymers on so-called soft supports is typically slow, often causing significant product degradation. One way of improving these boundary conditions in liquid chromatography is the use of monolithic adsorbents. The basis for fast separations with such media is a reduced mass transfer resistance owing to the fact that pore diffusion is practically non-existent. Chromatography with compact, porous units such as monolithic columns is being used increasingly for analytical and preparative separations of biopolymers with apparent molecular mass ranging from several thousand to up to several million.

This paper describes the use of a CIM® Convective Interaction Media for fast purification of plasmid DNA as well as for the concentration of viruses. Plasmid DNAs are circular duplex DNA molecules that are maintained stable as episomal genetic information within bacteria. They play an important role in gene technology - they are used for applications such as transformation, sequencing, transfection studies, etc. These applications require satisfactory purity of used plasmid DNA. For purification of plasmid DNA from Escherichia coli, monolithic units as anion-exchangers (CIM® DEAE and QA disks) were used. Separation of RNA from DNA as well as concentration of plasmid DNA were performed on the same disks.

All the methods for concentration of viruses, in general, are expensive, time-consuming and they are frequently not very successful. Therefore an attempt to bind viruses on an anion exchanger (CIM® DEAE disk) and elute bound virions in small volume (concentration) was done. As a model virus, measles was chosen. Using CIM® DEAE disk concentration of the measles viruses was successfully performed in less than 10 minutes.

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Strains of the anaerobic bacterial genus are thought to play an important role in fiber degradation. sp. Mz5 was previously isolated from the rumen of a black and white Friesian cow and its xylanolytic activity was proved to be at least 1,65 times higher than the activities of all of the compared well known xylan-degrading rumen bacterial species and strains (1). High xylanolytic activity was the reason for partial isolation of its xylanases in order to study their special characteristics and possible biotechnological applications later.

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Production and down-stream processing in biotechnology requires fast and accurate control of each step in the process. Liquid chromatography of biopolymers on so-called soft supports is typically slow, often causing significant product degradation. One way of improving these boundary conditions in liquid chromatography is the use of monolithic adsorbents. The basis for fast separations with such media is a reduced mass transfer resistance owing to the fact that pore diffusion is practically non-existent. Chromatography with compact, porous units such as monolithic columns is being used increasingly for analytical and preparative separations of biopolymers with apparent molecular mass ranging from several thousand to up to several million.

This paper describes the use of a CIM® Convective Interaction Media for fast purification of plasmid DNA as well as for the concentration of viruses.

Plasmid DNAs are circular duplex DNA molecules that are maintained stable as episomal genetic information within bacteria. They play an important role in gene technology - they are used for applications such as transformation, sequencing, transfection studies, etc. These applications require satisfactory purity of used plasmid DNA. For purification of plasmid DNA from Escherichia coli, monolithic units as anion-exchangers (CIM® DEAE and QA disks) were used. Separation of RNA from DNA as well as concentration of plasmid DNA were performed on the same disks.

All the methods for concentration of viruses, in general, are expensive, time-consuming and they are frequently not very successful. Therefore an attempt to bind viruses on an anion exchanger (CIM® DEAE disk) and elute bound virions in small volume (concentration) was done. As a model virus, measles was chosen. Using CIM® DEAE disk concentration of the measles viruses was successfully performed in less than 10 minutes.

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1999

CIM® supports are novel monolithic chromatographic supports. In contrast to conventional particle based chromatographic supports they consist of a single porous polymer. The pores form a highly interconnected network, which enables the flow of the mobile phase through the monolith. Molecules to be separated are transported to the surface by the convection. Since the diffusion is not a bottleneck any more, also the resolution and the dynamic capacity of the monolith are flow independent and an average analysis time is typically below one minute. Furthermore, CIM® columns were successfully applied for the purification of proteins directly from the fermentation broth.

Manganese peroxidases (MnP) and lignin peroxidases (LiP) are a family of glicosilated hemo-proteins, which are excreted into the growth medium during the idiophasic growth of the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium. They are both involved in the lignin degradation. For their analysis and separation from the growth medium, HPLC is commonly applied. Besides the separation by Na-acetate concentration gradient (2), also the chromatofocusing can be used (3). A fast method for LiP isoenzyme separation from the growth medium of P. chrysosporium using CIM™ QA disk monolithic columns has been recently developed (1). A modified method was tested on the growth medium containing MnP isoenzymes.

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The aim of our work was to study the direct monitoring and purification of proteins from the fermentation broth using ion-exchange CIM® supports. Therefore, we studied the possibility of monitoring and purifying lignin peroxidase extracelular protein isoforms produced by the fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium. These isoenzymes which also differ in their catalytic properties are able to partially depolymerize lignin and to oxidise several xenobiotics.

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