Process analytical technology (PAT) for biopharmaceutical products: Part I. concepts and applications.

Process analytical technology (PAT) has been gaining momentum in the biotech community due to the potential for continuous real-time quality assurance resulting in improved operational control and compliance. In this two part series, we address PAT as it applies to processes that produce biotech therapeutic products. In the first part, we address evolution of the underlying concepts and applications in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. We also present a literature review of applications in the areas of upstream and downstream processing to illustrate how implementation of PAT can help realize advanced approaches to ensuring product quality in real time. In the second part, we will explore similar applications in the areas of drug product manufacturing, rapid microbiology, and chemometrics as well as evolution of PAT in biotech processing.

Process analytical technology (PAT) for biopharmaceutical products: Part II. Concepts and applications.

Implementing real-time product quality control meets one or both of the key goals outlined in FDA's PAT guidance: "variability is managed by the process" and "product quality attributes can be accurately and reliably predicted over the design space established for materials used, process parameters, manufacturing, environmental, and other conditions." The first part of the paper presented an overview of PAT concepts and applications in the areas of upstream and downstream processing. In this second part, we present principles and case studies to illustrate implementation of PAT for drug product manufacturing, rapid microbiology, and chemometrics. We further present our thoughts on how PAT will be applied to biotech processes going forward. The role of PAT as an enabling component of the Quality by Design framework is highlighted. Integration of PAT with the principles stated in the ICH Q8, Q9, and Q10 guidance documents is also discussed.

Dermal inflammation elicited by synthetic analogs of Treponema pallidum and Borrelia burgdorferi lipoproteins.

The membrane lipoproteins of Treponema pallidum and Borrelia burgdorferi have potent immunostimulatory properties in vitro, implicating them as major inflammatory mediators in syphilis and Lyme disease. Recently, we reported that synthetic lipohexapeptide analogs (lipopeptides) of the lipoproteins could be used as surrogates for native spirochetal lipoproteins in immune cell activation studies in vitro. The present study was designed to evaluate the inflammatory properties of the lipopeptides in vivo and to correlate the cellular responses to these synthetic analogs with the histopathology of syphilis and Lyme disease. Lipopeptides corresponding to the 47-kDa major membrane lipoprotein of T. pallidum and the outer surface protein A of B. burgdorferi injected intradermally induced dose-dependent dermal inflammation in mice; the initial predominantly neutrophilic (mice) or heterophilic (rabbits) cellular infiltrates were followed by infiltrates consisting predominantly of mononuclear cells. The intradermal response of rabbits to the 47-kDa lipopeptide was strikingly similar to that observed for animals infected intradermally with T. pallidum. In all cases, lipopolysaccharide was substantially more potent as an inflammatory mediator than the spirochetal lipopeptides. In contrast to the lipopeptides, nonacylated hexapeptides elicited minimal or no dermal lesions in mice or rabbits, underscoring the importance of acyl modification to the inflammatory properties of the lipopeptides. This study provides the first in vivo evidence that the spirochetal lipoproteins/lipopeptides contribute to the immunopathogenesis of syphilis and Lyme disease.

Virulent Treponema pallidum promotes adhesion of leukocytes to human vascular endothelial cells.

Perivasculitis and endothelial cell abnormalities are characteristic histopathologic features of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease caused by Treponema pallidum. To extend earlier studies demonstrating that T. pallidum activates endothelial cells, we now show that virulent T. pallidum, but not heat-killed T. pallidum or nonpathogenic Treponema phagedenis, promotes increased adherence of lymphocytes and monocytes to human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Lymphocytes and monocytes are the two cell types prominent in the histopathology of syphilis. Recognition that T. pallidum can stimulate endothelial cells to bind leukocytes provides important insights into the early mechanisms of syphilis immunopathogenesis.

Virulent Treponema pallidum activates human vascular endothelial cells.

Perivascular lymphocytic infiltration, fibrin deposition, and endothelial cell abnormalities consistent with cellular activation are prominent histopathologic features of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochetal bacterium Treponema pallidum. Because activated endothelial cells play important roles in lymphocyte homing and hemostasis, the ability of virulent T. pallidum to activate cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) was investigated. T. pallidum induced the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and procoagulant activity on the surface of HUVEC. Electron microscopy of T. pallidum-stimulated HUVEC revealed extensive networks of fibrin strands not observed in cultures without treponemes. ICAM-1 expression in HUVEC also was promoted by a 47-kDa integral membrane lipoprotein purified from T. pallidum, implicating a role for spirochete membrane lipoproteins in endothelial cell activation. The combined findings are consistent with the pathology of syphilis and provide the first evidence that a pathogenic spirochetal bacterium such as T. pallidum or its constituent integral membrane lipoprotein(s) can activate directly host vascular endothelium.

Immunogenic integral membrane proteins of Borrelia burgdorferi are lipoproteins.

The pathogenic spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi contains a set of integral membrane proteins which were selectively extracted into the detergent phase upon solubilization of intact B. burgdorferi with the nonionic detergent Triton X-114. Virtually all of these hydrophobic proteins were recognized by antibodies in pooled sera from patients with chronic Lyme arthritis, demonstrating that proteins partitioning into the detergent phase of Triton X-114 encompass the major B. burgdorferi immunogens. Furthermore, most of these immunogenic proteins, including the previously characterized OspA and OspB membrane antigens, could be biosynthetically labeled when B. burgdorferi was incubated in vitro with [3H]palmitate. The OspA and OspB antigens were radioimmunoprecipitated from [3H]palmitate-labeled detergent-phase proteins with monoclonal antibodies, and [3H]palmitate was recovered unaltered from these proteins after sequential alkaline and acid hydrolyses. The combined results provide formal confirmation that the major B. burgdorferi immunogens extracted by Triton X-114 are lipoproteins. The demonstration that B. burgdorferi integral membrane antigens are lipoproteins may explain the basis of their immunogenicity and may help to improve our understanding of the surface topology of B. burgdorferi.

Molecular characterization of the pathogen-specific, 34-kilodalton membrane immunogen of Treponema pallidum.

The 34-kilodalton (kDa) antigen of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (T. pallidum) is a pathogen-specific integral membrane protein. DNA sequence analysis of the cloned gene revealed an open reading frame encoding a primary product of 204 residues with a molecular mass of 22,087 daltons. Sequences that correspond to a consensus Escherichia coli promoter and a ribosome-binding site were found upstream from the AUG start codon that begins the open reading frame, suggesting that the cloned gene can use its own regulatory sequences for expression. Examination of the deduced amino acid sequence revealed the presence of a typical procaryotic leader peptide 19 amino acids long; processing results in a mature molecule with a molecular mass of 20,123 daltons. Pulse-chase experiments with E. coli minicells confirmed that the 34-kDa antigen is synthesized as a higher-molecular-weight precursor that is processed to a mature form with the electrophoretic mobility that is characteristic for this protein. The presence in the leader peptide of the sequence Phe-Ser-Ala-Cys suggested that the 34-kDa antigen is a proteolipid. Although hydropathy analysis of the deduced amino acid sequence of the mature 34-kDa antigen predicted that the molecule was primarily hydrophilic, both the native and recombinant 34-kDa molecules displayed hydrophobic biochemical behavior by fractionating into the detergent phase after extraction of intact organisms with Triton X-114. Cell fractionation experiments with E. coli showed that the 34-kDa molecule was localized in both the inner and outer membranes of the recombinant host. The combined data demonstrate that the 34-kDa antigen is an integral membrane protein that behaves in a biochemically consistent manner in both T. pallidum and E. coli.

Cultivation of cottontail rabbit epidermal (Sf1Ep) cells on microcarrier beads and their use for suspension cultivation of Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum.

In vitro propagation of Treponema pallidum can be achieved by cocultivation with Sf1Ep cells. This study had two objectives: (i) to achieve suspension cultivation of Sf1Ep cells and (ii) to develop procedures for achieving the replication of T. pallidum in those cell cultures. Seven suspension cultures of Sf1Ep cells yielded an average of 7.2 x 10(8) T. pallidum (36-fold increase) after 12 days.