519. Selective Inactivation of Helper Adenovirus with High Hydrostatic Pressure for AAV-2 Vector Production

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a highly promising gene therapy vector for numerous reasons, including its non-pathogenicity and its ability to induce long-term expression of a transgene in multiple target cell types. However, the large scale production of AAV is complex, either involving transient plasmid transfection or co-infection with a helper virus (such as adenovirus), which must eventually be removed from the product to avoid helper-induced pathogenicity. The helper virus approach offers some advantages for large scale production, though adenovirus must then be eliminated during AAV purification. One widely used procedure for inactivating adenovirus following the production phase involves heating to 55 |[deg]|C. However, this procedure results in the concomitant loss of |[sim]|50% of the active AAV particles. Therefore, it may be desirable to develop alternate, rapid, robust, and economical methods that selectively inactivate undesired viruses while leaving AAV particles intact.