Blood factor VIII production

Native factor VIII is traditionally purified from blood donations first screened for evidence of the presence of viruses such as hepatitis B and HIV. A variety of fractionation procedures (initially mainly precipitation procedures) have been used to produce a factor VIII product. The final product is filter-sterilized and filled into its finished product containers. The product is then freeze-dried and the containers are subsequently sealed under vacuum, or are flushed with an inert gas (e.g. N2) before sealing. No preservative is added. The freeze-dried product is then stored below 8 °C until shortly before its use. 

Several companies have expressed the cDNA coding for human factor VIII C in a variety of eukaryotic production systems (human VIII C contains 25 potential glycosylation sites). CHO cells and BHK cell lines have been most commonly used, in addition to other cell lines, such as various mouse carcinoma cell lines. The recombinant factor VIII product generally contains only VIII C (i.e. is devoid of vWF). However, both clinical and preclinical studies have shown that administration of this product to patients suffering from haemophilia A is equally as effective as administering blood-derived factor VIII complex. The recombinant VIII C product appears to bind plasma... 

Blood factor VIII (FVIII) is a glycoprotein with 2351 amino acids and 330 kDa. Its deficiency causes hemophilia A. The first products based on recombinant factor VIII to reach the market were Recombinate and Kogenate, expressed in CHO and BHK cells, respectively. Over the last decade, other rFVIII products were approved, with modifications to the molecule (e.g. deletion of the B-domain), in the formulation or in the production processes. 

Fatal viral infections resulting from the use of contaminated human tissue or fluids as components of medicines are well recorded. Examples of this include human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection of haemophiliacs by contaminated and inadequately treated factor VIII products made from pooled human blood, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) from injections of human growth hormone derived from human pituitary glands, some of which were infected. 

Intact factor VIII, as usually purified from the blood, consists of two distinct gene products factor VIII and (multiple copies of) von Willebrand s factor (vWF Figure 12.6). This complex displays a molecular mass ranging from 1 to 2 MDa, of which up to 15 per cent is carbohydrate. The fully intact factor VIII complex is required to enhance the rate of activation of factor IX of the intrinsic system. 

Persons suffering from haemophilia A exhibit markedly reduced levels (or the complete absence) of factor VIII complex in their blood. This is due to the lack of production of factor VIII C. 

Persons expressing 5 per cent or above of the normal complex levels experience less severe clinical symptoms. Treatment normally entails administration of factor VIII complex purified from donated blood. More recently, recombinant forms of the product have also become available. Therapeutic regimens can require product administration on a weekly basis, for life. About 1 in 10 000 males are born with a defect in the factor VIII complex and there are approximately 25 000 haemophiliacs currently resident in the USA. 

Production of recombinant factor VIII (Table 12.2) has ended dependence on blood as the only source of this product, and eliminated the possibility of transmitting blood-borne diseases specifically derived from infected blood. In the past, over 60 per cent of haemophiliacs were likely to be accidentally infected via contaminated products at some stage of their life. 

Owing to the frequency of product administration, the purification procedure for recombinant factor VIII C must be particularly stringent. Unlike the situation pertaining when the product is purified from human blood, any contaminant present in the final product will be non-human and, hence, immunogenic. Sources of such contaminants would include ... 

Along with the production of insulin, many other medical uses have been achieved for recombinant DNA. This includes the production of erythropoetin, a hormone used to stimulate production of red blood cells in anemic people tissue plasminogen activator, an enzyme that dissolves blood clots in heart attack victims and antihemophilic human factor VIII, used to prevent and control bleeding for hemophiliacs. These three important genetically engineered proteins were all cloned in hamster cell cultures. 

Cryoprecipitate may also be used for patients with factor VIII deficiency and von Willebrand disease if desmopressin is not indicated and a pathogen-inactivated, recombinant, or plasma-derived product is not available. The concentration of factor VIII and von Willebrand factor in cryoprecipitate is not as great as that found in the concentrated plasma fractions. Moreover, cryoprecipitate is not treated in any manner to decrease the risk of viral exposure. For infusion, the frozen cryoprecipitate unit is thawed and dissolved in a small volume of sterile citrate-saline solution and pooled with other units. Rh-negative women with potential for childbearing should receive only Rh-negative cryoprecipitate because of possible contamination of the product with Rh-positive blood cells. 

Before the screening of blood and plasma and before virus inactivation procedures were applied to coagulation factor products (for example factor VIII and factor IX), many hemophiliacs who were treated with substitution therapy were exposed to infection with HIV. In the USA about 70% of tested persons with hemophiha A (factor VIII deficiency) and 35% with hemophilia B (factor IX deficiency) were HIV-seropositive (177). 

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