Efficacy of inactivation of viral contaminants in hyperimmune horse plasma against botulinum toxin by low pH alone and combined with pepsin digestion

Amram Torgeman, Nurit Mador, Marina Dorozko, Aliza Lifshitz, Naomi Eschar, Moshe D. White, Dana G. Wolf, Eyal Epstein*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Assuring viral safety of horse plasma-derived products is fundamental for ethical and regulatory reasons. We previously demonstrated the ability of pepsin digestion at low pH to inactivate West Nile and Sindbis viruses in horse plasma. The present study further examined the efficiency of pepsin digestion to inactivate four additional viruses: HSV-1 and BVDV (lipid-enveloped), BPV and Reo-3 (nonenveloped). These viruses were spiked into hyperimmunized horse plasma against botulinum toxin and subjected to low pH (3.2) alone or combined with pepsin digestion (1200 units/ml). Peptic digestion inactivated the lipid-enveloped viruses, whereas the nonenveloped viruses were unaffected. Interestingly, HSV-1 was rapidly inactivated by acidic pH alone (≥4.9 ± 0.6 log10), whereas a non-robust but meaningful BVDV inactivation (2.9 ± 0.7 log10) was achieved by combined low pH and pepsin. The current study demonstrated the ability of low pH alone and in combination with pepsin digestion to inactivate enveloped viral contaminants in anti-toxin horse plasma.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)24-27
Number of pages4
JournalBiologicals
Volume48
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2017
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 International Alliance for Biological Standardization

Keywords

  • Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus (BVDV)
  • Equine plasma
  • Herpes Simplex Virus type-1 (HSV-1)
  • Porcine Parvovirus (PPV)
  • Reovirus type 3 (Reo-3)
  • Viral clearance

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