VIRUCIDAL SHORT-WAVELENGTH ULTRAVIOLET-LIGHT TREATMENT OF PLASMA AND FACTOR-VIII CONCENTRATE - PROTECTION OF PROTEINS BY ANTIOXIDANTS

The use of solvent/detergent mixtures and various forms of heat treatm ent to inactivate viruses has become widespread in the preparation of blood derivatives. Because viruses that lack lipid envelopes and/or ar e heat resistant, eg, hepatitis A virus (HAV) or parvovirus B19 may be present, the use of two methods of virus elimination that operate by different mechanisms has been advocated. We now report on short wavele ngth ultraviolet light (UVC) irradiation for virus inactivation and en hancement of its compatibility with proteins by quenchers of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Treatment of an antihemophilic factor (AHF) conc entrate or whole plasma with 0.1 J/cm(2) inactivated 10(5) to greater than or equal to 10(6) infectious doses (ID) of encephalomyocarditis v irus (EMCV), HAV, bacteriophage M13, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), and porcine parvovirus. However, the recovery of factor VIII was 30% or lower on treatment of an AHF concentrate and 60% on treatment of pl asma. Factor VIII recovery could be increased with little or no effect on virus kill by addition of rutin, a flavonoid known to quench both type I and type II ROS. On treatment of plasma in the presence of ruti n, the recovery of several other coagulation factors was also enhanced by rutin addition and typically exceeded 75%. Electrophoretic analysi s of treated AHF concentrate confirmed the advantage of rutin presence ; UVC irradiation of plasma did not cause discernible changes in elect rophoretic banding patterns, even in the absence of rutin. We conclude that addition of UVC treatment to existing processes used in the manu facture of blood derivatives will provide an added margin of safety, e specially for nonenveloped or heat-stable viruses. (C) 1995 by The Ame rican Society of Hematology.