사람과 동물 유래의 혈장, 세포, 조직 등을 이용하여 생물의약품을 생산하기 위해서는 바이러스 안전성 확보가 필수적이다. 바이러스 안전성 보증을 위해 생물의약품 제조공정은 바이러스 불활화/제거 단계를 포함하여야 한다. 짧은 파장자외선(UVC) 조사는 바이러스 불활화 효과가 매우 높은 것으로 알려졌지만, UVC 조사로 인한 단백질의 변성과 대상 물질에 동일하게 조사를 할 수 있는 기계적 장치 개발의 어려움으로 인해 UVC 조사는 생물의약품 제조 공정에 사용되지 못했다. 최근에 이러한 결점을 해결한 연속 유동 UVC 반응기(UVivatec)가 개발되었다. UVivatec의 바이러스 불활화 효과 및 단백질 회수율을 검증하기 위해 단백질 의약품을 대상으로 적용가능성을 조사하였다. 최적화된 $3,000;J/m^2$ 조사 공정에서 단백질의 회수율은 98%이상이었다. UVC 조사에 의한 human immunodeficiency virus(HIV), hepatitis A virus(HAV), bovine herpes virus(BHV), bovine viral diarrhea virus(BVDV), porcine parvovirus(PPV), bovine parvovirus(BPV), minute virus of mice(MVM), reovirus type 3(REO), bovine parainfluenza virus type 3(BPIV) 불활화 효과를 평가하였다. HAV, PPV, BPV, MVM, REO와 같은 비외피(nonenvelope) 바이러스는 $3,000;J/m^2$ 조사량에 의해 검출한계 이하로 완벽하게 불활화되었다. HIV, BVDV, BPIV 같은 외피(envelope) 바이러스도 $3,000;J/m^2$ 조사량에 의해 검출한계 이하로 완벽하게 불활화되었다. 또한 BHV도 매우 민감하게 불활화되었다. UVC 조사에 의한 각 바이러스들의 로그 감소율은 HIV는 ${geq}3.89$, HAV는 ${geq}5.27$, BHV는 5.29, BVDV는 ${geq}5.96$, PPV는 ${geq}4.37$, BPV는 ${geq}3.55$, MVM은 ${geq}3.51$, REO는 ${geq}4.20$, BPIV는 ${geq}4.15$이었다. 이와 같은 결과에서 UVivatec을 이용한 UVC 조사는 바이러스 불활화에 매우 효과적인 방법임을 확인하였다.
Viral safety is an important prerequisite for clinical preparations of all biopharmaceuticals derived from plasma, cell lines, or tissues of human or animal origin. To ensure the safety, implementation of multiple viral clearance (inactivation and/or removal) steps has been highly recommended for manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. Of the possible viral clearance strategies, Ultraviolet-C (UVC) irradiation has been known as an effective viral inactivating method. However it has been dismissed by biopharmaceutical industry as a result of the potential for protein damage and the difficulty in delivering uniform doses. Recently a continuous flow UVC reactor (UVivatec) was developed to provide highly efficient mixing and maximize virus exposure to the UV light. In order to investigate the effectiveness of UVivatec to inactivate viruses without causing significant protein damage, the feasibility of the UVC irradiation process was studied with a commercial therapeutic protein. Recovery yield in the optimized condition of $3,000;J/m^2$ irradiation was more than 98%. The efficacy and robustness of the UVC reactor was evaluated with regard to the inactivation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis A virus (HAV), bovine herpes virus (BHV), bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), porcine parvovirus (PPV), bovine parvovirus (BPV), minute virus of mice (MVM), reovirus type 3 (REO), and bovine parainfluenza virus type 3 (BPIV). Non enveloped viruses (HAV, PPV, BPV, MVM, and REO) were completely inactivated to undetectable levels by $3,000;J/m^2$ irradiation. Enveloped viruses such as HIV, BVDV, and BPIV were completely inactivated to undetectable levels. However BHV was incompletely inactivated with slight residual infectivity remaining even after $3,000;J/m^2$ irradiation. The log reduction factors achieved by UVC irradiation were ${geq}3.89$ for HIV, ${geq}5.27$ for HAV, 5.29 for BHV, ${geq}5.96$ for BVDV, ${geq}4.37$ for PPV, ${geq}3.55$ for BPV, ${geq}3.51$ for MVM, ${geq}4.20$ for REO, and ${geq}4.15$ for BPIV. These results indicate that UVC irradiation using UVivatec was very effective and robust in inactivating all the viruses tested.
