Biomedical application of plasmid DNA in gene therapy: a new challenge for chromatography

Gene therapy and DNA vaccination are clinical fields gradually emerging in the last few decades, in particular after the discovery of some gene-related diseases. The increased relevance of biomedical applications of plasmid DNA (pDNA) to induce therapeutic effects has had a great impact on biopharmaceutical research and industry. Although there are several steps involved in the pDNA manufacturing process, the several unit operations must be designed and integrated into a global process. After the plasmid has been designed according to the requirements for clinical administeration to humans, it is biosynthesised mainly by an E. coli host. The overriding priority of the production process is to improve plasmid quantity - the production conditions need to be optimised to guarantee pDNA stability and biological activity. The complexity and diversity of biomolecules present on the pDNA-containing extracts represent the main concern and limitation to achieve pure and biologically active pDNA. There has been a recent intenstification of the improvement of existing purification procedures or the establishment of novel schemes for plasmid purification. This review focuses on the progress and relevance of chromatographic methodologies in the purification of pDNA-based therapeutic products. The review will attempt to assemble their different contributions of the different chromatographic procedures that are being used in the pDNA purification area. The advantages and disadvantages of the different chromatographic techniques, as well as the most significant improvements in response to the challenge of purifying pDNA will be discussed, emphasizing the future directions in this field.