Methods of reducing virucidal activity in PCV-2 compositions and PCV-2 compositions with an improved immunogenicity

1. A method of producing an antigenic composition comprising as at least one first component a porcine circovirus type 2 open reading frame 2 (PCV-2 ORF2)-antigen and having reduced virucidal activity, said method comprising the steps:

a) obtaining a first liquid containing recombinantly expressed ORF2 antigen of PCV-2, inactivated baculovirus vector, a neutralizing agent, and cell culture media used for the production of recombinant proteins in cultivated host cells;

b) removing at least a portion of the first liquid containing the PCV-2 ORF2 antigen by an at least one exchange of the portion of the first liquid against a second liquid, wherein the second liquid is different from the first liquid and is a non-virucidal pharmaceutically acceptable buffer selected from the group consisting of a saline buffer, phosphate buffer, or combinations thereof and wherein the at least one exchange of the portion of the first liquid against a second liquid comprises the steps of:

i) adding the second liquid to the first liquid; and

ii) concentrating the PCV-2 ORF2 antigen 3-fold to 50-fold by filtration through a semi-permeable membrane with an average pore size of 50 kDa to 500 kDa and removing a portion of the first and second liquids whereby the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition produced has reduced virucidal activity as compared to the first liquid;

wherein the reduced virucidal activity of the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition can be determined by adding an additional live antigen from at least one other disease-causing organism in swine to the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition and comparing the virucidal activity of the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition on the additional live antigen of the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition with the virucidal activity of a PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition having the same additional live antigen as the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition but that has not undergone steps a) and b) and wherein reduced virucidal activity is defined as causing a loss of less than 0.7 log TCID 50 per ml of a live virus or less than 1 log CFU per ml of a live bacterium of the additional live antigen when the live virus or live bacterium of the additional live antigen is mixed with the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition for 2 or more hours.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the first liquid is removed from the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen by a filtration step utilizing a filter.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein concentration step ii) and addition step i) are performed substantially simultaneously.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein concentration step ii) and addition step i) are performed at least two times.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the filter includes a semi-permeable membrane.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the semi-permeable membrane has an average pore size that is smaller than the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen and prevents passage of at least 90% of the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen through the semi-permeable membrane pores and holds the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen within the filter.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the filter has an average pore size that prevents passage of at least 90% of proteins of 50 kDa to 500 kDa in size.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein concentration step ii) concentrates the PCV-2 ORF2 antigen from 3× to 50× as compared to the first liquid.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virucidal activity of the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition is reduced by at least 10% as compared to the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen of the first liquid.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises harvesting the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen remaining after step ii).

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises purifying the harvested isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen by a chromatographic procedure.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen is purified to a purity grade of more than 50% (w/w) with reference to the total amount of protein.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises admixing the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen remaining after step ii) with a further component selected from the group consisting of pharmaceutically acceptable carriers, adjuvants, diluents, excipients, and combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the further component is an adjuvant.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the adjuvant is a carbomer.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen comprises virus-like particles of the ORF2 protein.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises combining the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition with at least one additional antigen.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least one additional antigen includes a Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Virus antigen and/or a Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae antigen.

19. A PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition obtained by the method of claim 1 .

20. An immunogenic composition comprising a PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition obtained by the method of claim 1 .

21. A method of producing an antigenic composition comprising as a first component PCV-2 ORF2 having reduced virucidal activity comprising the steps:

a) obtaining a first liquid containing an isolated PCV-2 ORF2 antigen and inactivated baculovirus vector, a neutralizing agent, and cell culture media used for the production of recombinant proteins in cultivated host cells wherein the PCV-2 ORF2 antigen is selected from the group consisting of:

i) a polypeptide comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 10 or SEQ ID NO: 11;

ii) any polypeptide that is at least 80% homologous and/or identical to the polypeptide of i);

iii) any immunogenic portion of the polypeptides of i) and/or ii)

iv) the immunogenic portion of iii), comprising at least 5, 8, or 10 contiguous amino acids of any of the sequences of SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 9, SEQ ID NO: 10 or SEQ ID NO: 11;

v) a polypeptide that is encoded by a DNA comprising the sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4;

vi) any polypeptide that is encoded by a polynucleotide that is at least 80% homologous and/or identical to the polynucleotide of v);

vii) any immunogenic portion of the polypeptides encoded by the polynucleotide of v) and/or vi); and

viii) the immunogenic portion of vii), wherein the polynucleotide coding for the immunogenic portion comprises at least 30 contiguous nucleotides included in the sequences of SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 4;

b) removing at least a portion of the first liquid containing the PCV-2 ORF2 antigen by an at least one exchange of the portion of the first liquid against a second liquid, wherein the second liquid is different from the first liquid and is a non-virucidal pharmaceutically acceptable buffer selected from the group consisting of a saline buffer, phosphate buffer, or combinations thereof and wherein the at least one exchange of the portion of the first liquid against a second liquid comprises the steps of:

i) adding the second liquid to the first liquid; and

ii) concentrating the PCV-2 ORF2 antigen 3-fold to 50-fold by filtration through a semi-permeable membrane with an average pore size of 50 kDa to 500 kDa and removing a portion of the first and second liquids whereby the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition produced has reduced virucidal activity as compared to the first liquid; and

c) adding a component to said PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition having reduced virucidal activity, wherein said component is a non-virucidal pharmaceutically acceptable buffer selected from the group consisting of a saline buffer, a phosphate buffer, and combinations thereof;

wherein the reduced virucidal activity of the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition can be determined by adding an additional live antigen from at least one other disease-causing organism in swine to the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition and comparing the virucidal activity of the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition on the additional live antigen added to the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition with the virucidal activity of a PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition having the same additional live antigen as the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition but that has not undergone steps a) and b) and wherein reduced virucidal activity is defined as causing a loss of less than 0.7 log TCID 50 per ml of a live virus or less than 1 log CFU per ml of a live bacterium of the additional live antigen when the live virus or live bacterium of the additional live antigen is mixed with the PCV-2 ORF2 antigenic composition for 2 or more hours.