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From March 2014 through February 2015, the Ebola virus spread rapidly in West Africa, resulting in almost 30,000 infections and approximately 10,000 deaths. With no approved therapeutic options available, an experimental antibody cocktail known as ZMapp™ was administered to patients on a limited compassionate-use basis. The supply of ZMapp™ was highly constrained at the time because it was in preclinical development and a novel production system (tobacco plants) was being used for manufacturing. To increase the production of ZMapp™ for an uncertain future demand, a consortium was formed in the fall of 2014 to quickly manufacture these anti-Ebola antibodies in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells using bioreactors for production at a scale appropriate for thousands of doses. As a result of the efforts of this consortium, valuable lessons were learned about the processing of the antibodies in a CHO-based system. One of the ZMapp™ cocktail antibodies, known as c13C6FR1, had been sequence-optimized in the framework region for production in tobacco and engineered as a chimeric antibody. When transfected into CHO cells with the unaltered sequence, 13C6FR1 was difficult to process. This report describes efforts to produce 13C6FR1 and the parental murine hybridoma sequence, 13C6mu, in CHO cells, and provides evidence for the insertion of a highly conserved framework amino acid that improved the physical properties necessary for high-level expression and purification. Furthermore, it describes the technical and logistical lessons learned that may be beneficial in the event of a future Ebola virus or other pandemic viral outbreaks where mAbs are considered potential therapeutics.

We have prepared a new formulation for mucosal delivery of GM-CSF or PEGylated GM-CSF based on a chitosan carrier plus added glycerol to control the rate of release of the protein. Thin dry films comprised of various weight ratios of chitosan to glycerol and containing either granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) or PEGylated GM-CSF, PEG-(GM-CSF), were prepared. The amount of GM-CSF or PEG-(GM-CSF) released from the chitosan/glycerol films was determined using size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-SEC). The amount of PEG-(GM-CSF) released from the films decreased with an increase in the amount of glycerol present in the film. In parallel with this, films with higher glycerol content exhibited a lower degree of equilibrium swelling when immersed in release media. pH measurements of the release media and analysis of the dried films by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) suggested that the amount of residual acetic acid in the dry films decreased as the glycerol content increased. This indicates that glycerol may act by displacing and releasing bound acetic acid from the chitosan molecules, resulting in chitosan--glycerol hydrogen bond formation as the film dries. Further, it was found that the release rate and the amount of PEG-(GM-CSF) released decreased with increasing molecular weight of the conjugated PEG. This effect was not observed with films containing physical mixtures of PEG and GM-CSF. The decrease in the fraction of PEG-(GM-CSF) released with increasing PEG molecular weight is believed to be due to the increased steric hindrance of the PEGylated protein molecule during its diffusion out of the swollen chitosan/glycerol film.

The desire to deliver protein and peptide biopharmaceuticals conveniently and effectively has led to intense investigation of site-specific drug-delivery systems. Despite challenges, progress towards the convenient noninvasive delivery of proteins and peptides has been achieved through specific routes of administration. In addition, the delivery of proteins and peptides to specific sites of action has been utilized to lower the total delivered dose, to gain access to specific organs or body compartments and to concentrate a therapeutic dose at a specific site of pharmacological action.

Purpose: This study describes the preparation and characterization of a controlled release formulation of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) encapsulated in poly(glycolide-co-D,L-lactide) (PLGA) and poly(D,L-lactide) (PLA) microspheres., Methods: GM-CSF was encapsulated in PLGA/PLA microspheres by a novel silicone oil based phase separation process. Several different blends of PLGA and low molecular weight PLA were used to prepare the microspheres. The microspheres and the encapsulated GM-CSF were extensively characterized both in vitro and in vivo., Results: Steady release of GM-CSF was achieved over a period of about one week without significant "burst" of protein from the microspheres. Analysis of microsphere degradation kinetics by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) indicated that low molecular weight PLA enhanced the degradation of the PLGA and thereby affected release kinetics. GM-CSF released from the microspheres was found to be biologically active and physically intact by bioassay and chromatographic analysis. Analysis of serum from mice receiving huGM-CSF indicated that the GM-CSF was biologically active and that a concentration of greater than 10 ng/mL was maintained for a period lasting at least nine days. MuGM-CSF was not detected following in vivo administration of muGM-CSF microspheres. The tissues of mice receiving muGM-CSF microspheres were characterized by infiltration of neutrophils, and macrophages which were in significant excess of those found in mice administered with placebo controls (i.e. microspheres without GM-CSF)., Conclusions: This study demonstrates the influence of formulation parameters on the encapsulation of GM-CSF in PLGA/PLA microspheres and its controlled release in biologically active form. The intense local tissue reaction in mice to muGM-CSF microspheres demonstrates the importance of the mode of delivery on the pharmacologic activity of GM-CSF.

Interleukin (IL)-15 is a multifunctional cytokine that shares many biological activities with IL-2. This functional overlap, as well as receptor binding subunits shared by IL-15 and IL-2, suggests tertiary structural similarities between these two cytokines. In this study, recombinant human IL-15 was PEGylated via lysine-specific conjugation chemistry in order to extend the circulation half-life of this cytokine. Although PEGylation did extend the beta-elimination circulation half-life of IL-15 by greater than 50-fold, the biological activity of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-IL-15 was significantly altered. Specifically, PEG-IL-15 lost its ability to stimulate the proliferation of CTLL but took on the properties of a specific IL-15 antagonist in vitro. In comparing sequence alignments and molecular models for IL-2 and IL-15, it was noted that lysine residues resided in regions of IL-15 that may have selectively disrupted receptor subunit binding. We hypothesized that PEGylation of IL-15 interferes with beta but not alpha receptor subunit binding, resulting in the IL-15 antagonist activity observed in vitro. The validity of this hypothesis was tested by engineering site-specific mutants of human IL-15 as suggested by the IL-15 model (IL-15D8S and IL-15Q108S block beta and gamma receptor subunit binding, respectively). As with PEG-IL-15, these mutants were unable to stimulate CTLL proliferation but were able to specifically inhibit the proliferation of CTLL in response to unmodified IL-15. These results supported our model of IL-15 and confirmed that interference of beta receptor subunit binding by adjacent PEGylation could be responsible for the altered biological activity observed for PEG-IL-15.

We have reviewed a large cross-section of degradable polymeric delivery systems for protein and peptide pharmaceuticals. These systems include monolithic type devices in which the drug is dispersed throughout the polymer and protein-polymer conjugates where the drug is covalently bound to the polymer. These delivery systems have unique challenges associated with their development that are related to both protein stability and protein release kinetics. Despite numerous reports in the scientific literature which include many encouraging results in preclinical models, very few of these systems have been developed into viable products. The products that have made it to market, however, have proven to be very successful and demonstrate the significant advantages that these systems can provide. The continuous advances in biotechnology will produce more proteins and peptides that will be difficult to administer by conventional means, and an increased demand for controlled or site-specific delivery systems is anticipated.

The ability of corneal epithelial cells to attach, spread, and migrate on synthetic surfaces is largely determined by the characteristics of the adsorbed protein layer. In previous studies we have described an in vitro model for quantitating epithelial cell outgrowth from explanted corneal buttons onto synthetic materials (Pettit et al., Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci., 31, 2269 [1990]). We have also described the role of fibronectin (fn) adsorption and binding strength on epithelial cell outgrowth (Pettit et al., J. Biomed. Mater. Res., 26, 1259 [1992]). In the current study we have used a monoclonal antibody against the RGD cell binding domain of fn (mAb 3E3) to further characterize the role of adsorbed fn in promoting epithelial cell outgrowth. Ten materials of diverse chemical and physical properties were adsorbed with fn (0.1 mg/ml) or mixtures of fn and albumin (concentrations totaling 0.1 mg/ml) and tested for antibody recognition of the cell binding domain. The surface density of bound anti-cell binding domain antibody varied from a low of 0.66 +/- 0.11 for fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer (FEP) to a high of 1.90 +/- 0.26 for tissue culture polystyrene dish substrates (units are OD at 450 nm measured in the ELISA technique normalized to polyethylene). A general increase in cell outgrowth areas was noted, with increases in recognizable cell binding domain. However, several exceptions to this trend were noted as well (e.g., low cell outgrowth but high antibody recognizability for glass). These results suggest that, although the number of cell binding domains exposed on adsorbed fn molecules may influence cell outgrowth, other characteristics of the adsorbed protein, such as the binding strength to the underlying substrate, may be equally important in characterizing epithelial cell-substrate interactions.

The outgrowth of corneal epithelial cells onto a polymeric substrate is expected to be the primary event in the epithelialization of a synthetic corneal graft. Circular corneal buttons (5 mm) were punched from excised rabbit corneas and placed onto bare substrates or substrates preadsorbed with fibronectin (fn), albumin, or binary mixtures of both fn and albumin. Cell outgrowth areas were measured after culturing the buttons for 4 days in serum-free medium. Fibronectin adsorption to the materials was measured from pure and binary solutions with 125I-radiolabeled fibronectin. A parameter thought to be related to the binding strength of fn to polymeric substrates was measured in parallel experiments by partial elution of the adsorbed fn by 3% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Following pure solution fibronectin adsorption a range of outgrowth areas was measured (from 0.86 +/- 0.03 cm2 for glass to 1.49 +/- 0.03 cm2 for TCPS). On all of the materials tested cell outgrowth areas increased following fn preadsorption and decreased following albumin preadsorption relative to bare surfaces (p less than 0.05). Following preadsorption with binary protein mixtures cell outgrowth areas increased with fibronectin adsorption, however, the outgrowth areas were not determined solely by the concentration of fn adsorbed onto the surfaces. This result suggested that the biological efficiency of the adsorbed fibronectin was substrate-dependent. When the cell outgrowth data were cross-plotted against fn retention following SDS elution, the outgrowth areas were found to increase along with increases in fn retention. Based on these data we suggest that epithelial cell outgrowth may be partially governed by the tightness of binding between the fn molecules and the underlying substrate.

The outgrowth of corneal epithelial cells onto a polymeric substrate is expected to be the primary event in the epithelialization of a synthetic corneal graft. To study the effects of polymer surface properties on corneal epithelial cell outgrowth, a quantitative in vitro cell outgrowth assay was done. Polymers with systematic variations in hydroxyl content were used as outgrowth substrates. These polymers were characterized by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis for elemental surface composition and by captive air-bubble contact angle for surface wettability. Circular corneal buttons were punched from excised rabbit corneas, placed onto these substrates, and incubated in a hormonally enriched culture medium. Outgrowth of the epithelial cells was allowed to proceed onto the substrates for 4 days. The outgrowth areas were measured, and an outgrowth index was calculated for each substrate by comparing it with tissue culture polystyrene substrate. The highest outgrowth generally occurred on substrates with intermediate wettabilities (captive air-bubble contact angles of approximately 45-75 degree); it was less on substrates of lower or higher wettabilities. Protein coatings of albumin, immunoglobulin G (IgG), fibronectin, and culture medium were found to lower the wettabilities of native substrates. Albumin and IgG precoating were shown to reduce epithelial cell outgrowth; fibronectin precoating was shown to improve outgrowth on most substrates. These results suggest that epithelial cell outgrowth is influenced by both substrate and protein interactions.

Hyperopic hydrogel intracorneal lenses were successfully implanted into 27 of 33 primate eyes. All eyes were evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively at monthly intervals for clinical appearance and refractive alteration. In a preliminary surgical series, several factors, such as tight sutures and implant design, resulted in a poor refractive yield. The final surgical series used a microkeratome with a pediatric microkeratome ring for smooth interface cuts, interrupted suturing with sufficient tension to align the wound without compression, a suture through the lens to prevent its dislocation, and intraoperative keratometry to reduce postoperative cylinder. The predicted vs measured refractive alteration for a range of 6 to 20 diopters had a correlation coefficient of .95. Keratometry changes correlated to the refractive changes with a coefficient of .97 but understand the change in refraction created by the surgery.