The impact of endotoxin masking on the removal of endotoxin during manufacturing of a biopharmaceutical drug product.

Endotoxins are a highly pyrogenic and immunogenic contaminant of bacterial origin that must be avoided during the manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products to ensure safety and efficacy. Low endotoxin recovery, also known as a masking effect, is defined as the ability to detect <50% [21] of the expected endotoxin in an endotoxin assay. Masking can be caused by the ability of endotoxins to build aggregates, bind to the protein or organise in micelles or vesicles that in turn inhibit detection of the endotoxin in the solution being tested. Therefore, a masking effect can result from physical parameters of the molecule being tested or from the buffer/environmental conditions of the solution the molecule is in. This can subsequently lead to the underestimation of endotoxin contaminations and lead to a potential false negative test. Tight control over the effectiveness of the downstream process and the use of well-characterised endotoxin testing assays are needed to ensure optimal endotoxin removal. This manuscript demonstrates the capacity to remove the endotoxins within a proven acceptable range by also controlling and evaluating the potential masking effects during downstream process at ambient temperature and also during sample storage condition until the analyse was performed. The endotoxin removal study (ERS) is divided in the initial part to evaluate the process buffers and the conditions of the molecule to avoid the underestimation of endotoxins in process samples in advance. This pre-study is a necessary prerequisite to evaluate the results after the endotoxin spiked downstream unit operations. With those aspects, the removal capacity can be demonstrated. A study was carried out to characterise the endotoxin removal capability of the purification process including controlling of masking effects. The endotoxin removal capacity on ion exchange chromatography and during ultrafiltration/diafiltration unit operations of the downstream processing of an immunoglobulin G1 antibody was conducted using various process parameters to understand their impact on endotoxin removal. In the small-scale study, the processing steps from each tested unit operation were spiked with Escherichia coli endotoxins. The potential masking effect during purification was addressed by controlling the hold time by spiking studies of the different generated pools at ambient temperature. By conducting a masking study, all generated protein pools (flow-through/wash, eluate and regeneration pools) had no masking effect caused through sample handling prior to analysis. Overall, this study showed that endotoxins could be successfully removed by anion exchange chromatography. A partial removal could be achieved by cation exchange chromatography and endotoxins could not be removed with ultrafiltration/diafiltration.

Therapeutic siRNAs Targeting the JAK/STAT Signalling Pathway in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Inflammatory bowel diseases are highly debilitating conditions that require constant monitoring and life-long medication. Current treatments are focused on systemic administration of immunomodulatory drugs, but they have a broad range of undesirable side-effects. RNA interference is a highly specific endogenous mechanism that regulates the expression of the gene at the transcript level, which can be repurposed using exogenous short interfering RNA [siRNA] to repress expression of the target gene. While siRNA therapeutics can offer an alternative to existing therapies, with a high specificity critical for chronically administrated drugs, evidence of their potency compared to chemical kinase inhibitors used in clinics is still lacking in alleviating an adverse inflammatory response. METHODS: We provide a framework to select highly specific siRNA, with a focus on two kinases strongly involved in pro-inflammatory diseases, namely JAK1 and JAK3. Using western-blot, real-time quantitative PCR and large-scale analysis, we assessed the specificity profile of these siRNA drugs and compared their efficacy to the most recent and promising kinase inhibitors for Janus kinases [Jakinibs], tofacitinib and filgotinib. RESULTS: siRNA drugs can reach higher efficiency and selectivity at lower doses [5 pM vs 1 µM] than Jakinibs. Moreover, JAK silencing lasted up to 11 days, even with 6 h pulse transfection. CONCLUSIONS: The siRNA-based drugs developed hold the potential to develop more potent therapeutics for chronic inflammatory diseases.

Androgen receptor-modulatory microRNAs provide insight into therapy resistance and therapeutic targets in advanced prostate cancer.

Androgen receptor (AR) signalling is a key prostate cancer (PC) driver, even in advanced 'castrate-resistant' disease (CRPC). To systematically identify microRNAs (miRs) modulating AR activity in lethal disease, hormone-responsive and -resistant PC cells expressing a luciferase-based AR reporter were transfected with a miR inhibitor library; 78 inhibitors significantly altered AR activity. Upon validation, miR-346, miR-361-3p and miR-197 inhibitors markedly reduced AR transcriptional activity, mRNA and protein levels, increased apoptosis, reduced proliferation, repressed EMT, and inhibited PC migration and invasion, demonstrating additive effects with AR inhibition. Corresponding miRs increased AR activity through a novel and anti-dogmatic mechanism of direct association with AR 6.9 kb 3'UTR and transcript stabilisation. In addition, miR-346 and miR-361-3p modulation altered levels of constitutively active AR variants, and inhibited variant-driven PC cell proliferation, so may contribute to persistent AR signalling in CRPC in the absence of circulating androgens. Pathway analysis of AGO-PAR-CLIP-identified miR targets revealed roles in DNA replication and repair, cell cycle, signal transduction and immune function. Silencing these targets, including tumour suppressors ARHGDIA and TAGLN2, phenocopied miR effects, demonstrating physiological relevance. MiR-346 additionally upregulated the oncogene, YWHAZ, which correlated with grade, biochemical relapse and metastasis in patients. These AR-modulatory miRs and targets correlated with AR activity in patient biopsies, and were elevated in response to long-term enzalutamide treatment of patient-derived CRPC xenografts. In summary, we identified miRs that modulate AR activity in PC and CRPC, via novel mechanisms, and may represent novel PC therapeutic targets.

Φ-score: A cell-to-cell phenotypic scoring method for sensitive and selective hit discovery in cell-based assays.

Phenotypic screening monitors phenotypic changes induced by perturbations, including those generated by drugs or RNA interference. Currently-used methods for scoring screen hits have proven to be problematic, particularly when applied to physiologically relevant conditions such as low cell numbers or inefficient transfection. Here, we describe the Φ-score, which is a novel scoring method for the identification of phenotypic modifiers or hits in cell-based screens. Φ-score performance was assessed with simulations, a validation experiment and its application to gene identification in a large-scale RNAi screen. Using robust statistics and a variance model, we demonstrated that the Φ-score showed better sensitivity, selectivity and reproducibility compared to classical approaches. The improved performance of the Φ-score paves the way for cell-based screening of primary cells, which are often difficult to obtain from patients in sufficient numbers. We also describe a dedicated merging procedure to pool scores from small interfering RNAs targeting the same gene so as to provide improved visualization and hit selection.

A statistically inferred microRNA network identifies breast cancer target miR-940 as an actin cytoskeleton regulator.

MiRNAs are key regulators of gene expression. By binding to many genes, they create a complex network of gene co-regulation. Here, using a network-based approach, we identified miRNA hub groups by their close connections and common targets. In one cluster containing three miRNAs, miR-612, miR-661 and miR-940, the annotated functions of the co-regulated genes suggested a role in small GTPase signalling. Although the three members of this cluster targeted the same subset of predicted genes, we showed that their overexpression impacted cell fates differently. miR-661 demonstrated enhanced phosphorylation of myosin II and an increase in cell invasion, indicating a possible oncogenic miRNA. On the contrary, miR-612 and miR-940 inhibit phosphorylation of myosin II and cell invasion. Finally, expression profiling in human breast tissues showed that miR-940 was consistently downregulated in breast cancer tissues.

The miR-17 family links p63 protein to MAPK signaling to promote the onset of human keratinocyte differentiation.

The p63 protein plays a key role in regulating human keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation. Although some p63-regulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified in the control of epidermal homeostasis, little is known about miRNAs acting downstream of p63. In this paper, we characterized multiple p63-regulated miRNAs (miR-17, miR-20b, miR-30a, miR-106a, miR-143 and miR-455-3p) and elucidated their roles in the onset of keratinocyte differentiation. We identified RB, p21 and multiple MAPKs as targets of these p63-controlled miRNAs. Upon inhibition of most of these miRNAs, we observed defects in commitment to differentiation that could be reversed by siRNA-mediated silencing of their targets. Furthermore, knockdown of MAPK8 and MAPK9 efficiently restored expression of the early differentiation markers keratin 1 and keratin 10 in p63-silenced primary human keratinocytes. These results highlight new mechanistic roles of multiple miRNAs, particularly the miR-17 family (miR-17, miR-20b and miR-106a), as regulatory intermediates for coordinating p63 with MAPK signaling in the commitment of human mature keratinocytes to early differentiation.

Diamagnetically trapped arrays of living cells above micromagnets.

Cell arrays are of foremost importance for many applications in pharmaceutical research or fundamental biology. Although arraying techniques have been widely investigated for adherent cells, organization of cells in suspension has been rarely considered. The arraying of non-adherent cells using the diamagnetic repulsive force is presented. A planar arrangement of Jurkat cells is achieved at the microscale above high quality microfabricated permanent magnets with remanent magnetization of J(r)≈ 1 T, in the presence of a paramagnetic contrast agent. The cytotoxicity of three Gd based contrast agents, Gd-DOTA, Gd-BOPTA and Gd-HP-DO3A, is studied. Among them, Gd-HP-DO3A appears to be the most biocompatible toward Jurkat cells. In close agreement with analytical simulations, diamagnetically 'suspended' cells have been successfully arrayed above square and honeycomb-like micromagnet arrays, which act as a "diamagnetophobic" surface. Living cell trapping is achieved in a simple manner using concentrations of Gd-HP-DO3A as low as 1.5 mM.