Performance of a non-grafted monolithic support for purification of supercoiled plasmid DNA

The use of therapeutics based on plasmid DNA (pDNA) relies on procedures that efficiently produce and purify the supercoiled (sc) plasmid isoform. Several chromatographic methods have been applied for the sc plasmid purification, but with most of them it is not possible to obtain the required purity degree and the majority of the supports used present low capacity to bind the plasmid molecules. However, the chromatographic monolithic supports are an interesting alternative to conventional supports due to their excellent mass transfer properties and their high binding capacity for pDNA. The separation of pDNA isoforms, using short non-grafted monolithic column with CarbonylDiImidazole (CDI) functional groups, is described in the current work. The effect of different flow rates on plasmid isoforms separation was also verified. Several breakthrough experiments were designed to study the effect of different parameters such as pDNA topology and concentration as well as flow rate on the monolithic support binding capacity. One of the most striking results is related to the specific recognition of the sc isoform by this CDI monolith, without flow rate dependence. Additionally, the binding capacity has been found to be significantly higher for sc plasmid, probably because of its compact structure, being also improved when using feedstock with increased plasmid concentrations and decreased linear velocity. In fact, this new monolithic support arises as a powerful instrument on the sc pDNA purification for further clinical applications.     

Effect of chromatographic conditions and plasmid DNA size on the dynamic binding capacity of a monolithic support

DNA therapies are becoming recognized alternatives for the treatment and prevention of severe pathologies. Although most current trials have used plasmids <10 kbp, in the future larger plasmids would be required. The purpose of this work was to study the chromatographic behavior of nongrafted carbonyldiimidazole monolithic disks using plasmids with different sizes under hydrophobic conditions. Thereunto, the purification of several plasmids was performed. Higher size plasmids needed lower ammonium sulfate concentration, due to the greater number of interactions between the plasmids and monolith. The dynamic binding capacity experiments for the different plasmids revealed a lower capacity for bigger plasmids. It was also verified that the increase of salt concentration from 2.5 to 3 M of ammonium sulfate increased the capacity. At the highest salt concentration, a slight improvement in the capacity using lower flow rate was observed, possibly due to compaction of plasmid molecules and its better organization on the monolith channels. Finally, a low pH also had a positive effect on the capacity. So, this monolithic support proved to be appropriate to purify the supercoiled isoform of different plasmids with different sizes, providing a valuable instrument as a purification technique.     

Supercoiled plasmid DNA purification by integrating membrane technology with a monolithic chromatography

The present study describes the integration of membrane technology with monolithic chromatography to obtain plasmid DNA with high quality. Isolation and clarification of plasmid DNA lysate were first conducted by a microfiltration step, by using a hydrophilic nylon microfiltration membrane, avoiding the need of centrifugation. For the total elimination of the remaining impurities, a suitable purification step is required. Monolithic stationary phases have been successfully applied as an alternative to conventional supports. Thus, the sample recovered from the membrane process was applied into a nongrafted CarbonylDiImidazole disk. Throughout the global procedure, a reduced level of impurities such as proteins and RNA was obtained, and no genomic DNA was detectable in the plasmid DNA sample. The chromatographic process demonstrated an efficient performance on supercoiled plasmid DNA purity and recovery (100 and 84.44%, respectively). Thereby, combining the membrane technology to eliminate some impurities from lysate sample with an efficient chromatographic strategy to purify the supercoiled plasmid DNA arises as a powerful approach for industrial‐scale systems aiming at plasmid DNA purification.     

Binding and elution strategy for improved performance of arginine affinity chromatography in supercoiled plasmid DNA purification

New interesting strategies for plasmid DNA (pDNA) purification were designed, exploiting affinity interactions between amino acids and nucleic acids. The potential application of arginine-based chromatography to purify pDNA has been recently described in our work; however, to achieve higher efficiency and selectivity in arginine affinity chromatography, it is essential to characterize the behaviour of binding/elution of supercoiled (sc) isoforms. In this study, two different strategies based on increased sodium chloride (225-250 mm) or arginine (20-70 mm) stepwise gradients are described to purify sc isoforms. Thus, it was proved that well-defined binding/elution conditions are crucial to enhance the purification performance, resulting in an improvement of the final plasmids yields and transfection efficiency, as this could represent a significant impact on therapeutic applications of the purified sc isoform.     

Practical aspects of fast HPLC separations for pharmaceutical process development using monolithic columns

A large number of samples can be generated during pharmaceutical process development. Fast separation for these samples is usually challenging due to the complexity of sample matrix, which requires high efficiency as well as high speed. Monolithic columns (E. Merck, Germany) were investigated as a possible tool for reducing separation time in reversed-phase HPLC without significantly sacrificing efficiency or resolution. Both van Deemter plots and separations of alkyl benzenes and in-process samples showed that monolithic columns were suitable for fast separations without significantly compromising resolution. Practical parameters including the pressure drop, retention factor, selectivity, and tailing factor of monolithic columns (Chromolith type) were compared to those of conventional YMC 150 mm × 4.6 mm (3-μm particles) and 250 mm × 4.6 mm (5-μm particles) packed columns. The batch-to-batch reproducibility of the 100 mm × 4.6 mm Chromolith columns from five randomly ordered batches was also compared to the 250 mm × 4.6 mm YMC particle-packed columns. Fast and efficient separations of complicated process samples including crude drug substances, reaction mixtures, and crystallized mother liquors were demonstrated for both monolithic columns and conventional packed columns. The analysis times were decreased by three to seven times on the coupled monolithic columns, while maintaining the comparable resolution to typical 5-μm particle-packed 250 mm × 4.6 mm columns.     

Application of monoliths for plasmid DNA purification development and transfer to production

The demand of high-purity plasmid DNA (pDNA) for gene-therapy and genetic vaccination is still increasing. For the large scale production of pharmaceutical grade plasmids generic and economic purification processes are needed. Most of the current processes for pDNA production use at least one chromatography step, which always constitutes as the key-step in the purification sequence. Monolithic chromatographic supports are an alternative to conventional supports due to their excellent mass transfer properties and their high binding capacity for pDNA. Anion-exchange chromatography is the most popular chromatography method for plasmid separation, since polynucleotides are negatively charged independent of the buffer conditions. For the implementation of a monolith-based anion exchange step into a pDNA purification process detailed screening experiments were performed. These studies included supports, ligand-types and ligand-densities and optimization of resolution and productivity. For this purpose model plasmids with a size of 4.3 and 6.9 kilo base pairs (kbp) were used. It could be shown, that up-scaling to the production scale using 800 ml CIM Convective Interaction Media radial flow monoliths is possible under low pressure conditions. CIM DEAE was successfully implemented as intermediate step of the cGMP pDNA manufacturing process. Starting from 2001 fermentation aliquots pilot scale purification runs were performed in order to prove scale-up and to predict further up-scaling to 8 1 tube monolithic columns. The analytical results obtained from these runs confirmed suitability for pharmaceutical applications.     

Enantioseparation of phenotiazines by affinity electrokinetic chromatography using human serum albumin as chiral selector: application to enantiomeric quality control in pharmaceutical formulations

Nowadays, there is a special interest within the pharmaceutical laboratories to develop single enantiomer formulations and consequently a need for analytical methods to determine the enantiomeric purity of drugs. The present paper deals with the enantiomeric separation of promethazine and trimeprazine enantiomers by affinity electrokinetic chromatography (AEKC)-partial filling technique using human serum albumin (HSA) as chiral selector. A multivariate optimization of the most critical experimental variables in enantioresolution, running pH, HSA concentration and plug length, is carried out to obtain enantioresolution of promethazine and trimeprazine. The estimated maximum and optimum resolution of trimeprazine and prometazine enantiomers (Rs = 1.74 and 2.01, respectively) corresponded to the following experimental conditions: pH 7.5; [HSA] 170 μM and plug length 190 s and pH 7.6; [HSA] 170 μM and plug length 170 s, for trimeprazine and prometazine, respectively. The developed methodologies were applied for the enantiomeric quality control of promethazine and trimeprazine enantiomers in commercially available pharmaceutical formulations. Resolution, accuracy, reproducibility, cost and sample throughput of the proposed methodologies make it suitable for quality control of the enantiomeric composition of promethazine and trimeprazine in pharmaceutical preparations.     

Chromatographic separation of carrier free 90Y from 90Sr using a diglycolamide based resin for possible pharmaceutical applications

N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyl diglycolamide (TODGA) has been used as the stationary phase in an extraction chromatography resin (XCR) material prepared for evaluating the uptake and the separation behaviour of (90)Y and (90)Sr from acidic feeds. Chromosorb-W was used as the solid support material while the feed solution was usually 4M HNO(3). The batch uptake studies have suggested almost no Sr(II) uptake while Y(III) uptake increased with acidity up to 4M HNO(3) beyond which a decrease in the K(d,w) values were observed. Column studies were carried out and breakthrough profiles were obtained for both Y(III) and Sr(II). No breakthrough of Y(III) was noticed even when >50 column volumes of the feed (carrier free (90)Y at 4 M HNO(3)) was passed through the column while about 20 column volumes were required for the breakthrough of Y(III) when the feed contained 1 g/L Y in 4 M HNO(3) spiked with (90)Y tracer. The reusability of the column was also studied which indicated in the deterioration of the column performance as shown by the sharp fall in the breakthrough volumes and was attributed to the probable leaching of the reagent from the support material. The role of absorbed dose was also investigated for Y(III) uptake. Separation of carrier free (90)Y tracer was carried out by loading the column with (90)Sr and eluting with 0.01M solutions of HNO(3) as well as EDTA. The purity of the product was ascertained by half-life method.     

Synthesis and application of a macroporous boronate affinity monolithic column using a metal-organic gel as a porogenic template for the specific capture of glycoproteins

A macroporous boronate affinity monolithic column was prepared and applied to specifically capture glycoproteins using metal-organic gels (MOGs) as a porogenic template. This newly explored application of MOGs has proven to be a more convenient method for the formation of macropores in contrast to traditional porogenic methods. The poly (3-acrylamidophenylboronic acid-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) monolithic columns were synthesized in stainless columns by in situ polymerization. To fabricate the macroporous formation with a uniformed open-channel network, the preparation conditions, such as reaction temperature, the concentration of the MOGs and the ratio of monomers were systematically investigated. The prepared macroporous monoliths were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry. Furthermore, horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and transferrin (TF) were chosen as test glycoproteins, and the chromatographic analysis demonstrated that the macroporous boronate affinity monoliths exhibited a higher selectivity and better dynamic binding capacity toward glycoproteins compared with non-glycoproteins. The resulted affinity monolithic column was successfully employed to specifically capture TF from a bovine serum sample.     

Accumulated detection of ethidium bromide using a UV-irradiated DNA film modified electrode and its application for electrochemical detection of an environmental pollutant

In this study, DNA was first fabricated on a glassy carbon electrode by UV-irradiation. Through this process, water-soluble DNA was converted into insoluble materials, and a stable DNA film formed on the electrode. Ethidium bromide (EtBr), a typical model substance for harmful chemicals having planer structure, was used as an electroactive intercalator. This allowed our group to investigate the electrochemical and accumulative behaviors of the intercalator in UV-irradiated DNA film on the electrode. The UV-irradiated, DNA film-modified electrode (UV-DNA-FE) made it possible to accumulate electroactive EtBr on the electrode and detect it after accumulation. The modified electrode was used to detect dibenzofuran (DBF) as an environmental pollutant. The measurements were successfully obtained by focusing on the variation of the electrode response of EtBr, based on the competitive reaction between EtBr and DBF for the intercalating sites of DNA. The results indicated the possibility of using UV-DNA film as a sensing mechanism.