Human Cell Line Produces High-Quality RSV for Vaccine Production

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 24 Mar 2014

Cooperation between German and American biotechnology companies may pave the way for development of a vaccine to prevent RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) respiratory infections, which have been estimated to cause nearly 7% of the deaths of infants that die during their first year of life.

The companies involved are CEVEC Pharmaceuticals (Cologne, Germany), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focusing on the development of highly potent protein and vaccine expression systems based on human CAP cells and Paragon Bioservices Inc. (Baltimore, MD, USA), a leading American biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer.

Image: Electron micrograph reveals the morphologic traits of the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The virion is variable in shape, and size (average diameter of between 120–300 nm). RSV is the most common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and children under one year of age (Photo courtesy of the CDC - [US] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).

CEVEC has developed a new and proprietary expression system for biopharmaceuticals offering significant advantages over existing production technologies. Their CAP cells are an immortalized cell line derived from primary human amniocytes that meet the highest ethical and regulatory standards. CEVEC´s CAP cells have proven highly efficient in the production of a broad range of otherwise difficult to express glycoproteins. These molecules are produced at high titers with authentic post-translational modifications in serum-free suspension culture. Their ability to generate human glycosylation patterns also makes CAP cells a valuable tool for vaccine production.

The CEVEC/Paragon project has succeeded in producing RSV in CAP cells that show a high-level of functional G-protein resulting in a very effective RSV vaccine with positive impact on attenuated-vaccine studies.

"Again CAP cells prove their enormous potential and significant advantages over many currently used production systems for vaccines," said Dr. Rainer Lichtenberger, COO of CEVEC. "Next to Cytomegalovirus, influenza, and others, this is another striking example that CAP cells can efficiently propagate disease relevant human viruses. We were very pleased to work with Paragon on this project and benefited from their experience in vaccine production. This collaboration was extremely pleasant and successful."

Marco Chacón, CEO of Paragon said, "This teamwork pays not only for CEVEC, but also for Paragon. With use of CAP cells we can offer our customers a unique production system to meet the challenges of their vaccine target. With this highly ambitious project we have again proven our expertise in this competitive business."

Related Links:
CEVEC Pharmaceuticals
Paragon Bioservices Inc.