Abstract
Advances in adeno-associated virus (AAV)-mediated gene therapy have brought the possibility of commercial manufacturing of AAV vectors one step closer. To realize this prospect, a parallel effort with the goal of ever-increasing sophistication for AAV vector production technology and supporting assays will be required. Among the important release assays for a clinical gene therapy product, those monitoring potentially hazardous contaminants are most critical for patient safety. A prominent contaminant in many AAV vector preparations is vector particles lacking a genome, which can substantially increase the dose of AAV capsid proteins and lead to possible unwanted immunological consequences. Current methods to determine empty particle content suffer from inconsistency, are adversely affected by contaminants, or are not applicable to all serotypes. Here we describe the development of an ion-exchange chromatography-based assay that permits the rapid separation and relative quantification of AAV8 empty and full vector particles through the application of shallow gradients and a strong anion-exchange monolith chromatography medium.