Sequential two-step chromatographic purification of infectious poliovirus using ceramic fluoroapatite and ceramic hydroxyapatite columns

Infectious virus purification techniques are important for vaccine development and gene therapy applications. However, the standardized one-step purification technique using ceramic hydroxyapatite (CHAp) has proven unsuitable for poliovirus. Therefore, we designed a sequential two-step chromatographic technique for purification of the infectious Sabin type 2 vaccine strain of poliovirus from the cell culture supernatant. In the first step, we removed protein contaminants from the Sabin type 2 virus fraction by pH gradient elution on a ceramic fluoroapatite column. In the second step, we removed double-stranded DNA derived from host cells by diluting the virus fraction, directly loading it on a CHAp column, and purifying it using a phosphate gradient with 1 M sodium chloride. This process achieved removal rates of more than 99.95% and 99.99% for proteins and double-stranded DNA, respectively, and was highly reproducible and scalable. Furthermore, it is likely that it will be applicable to other virus species.