PolyBall -- A New Adsorbent for the Removal Of Endotoxin

In biotechnology industries, gram-negative bacteria are widely used for the production of therapeutic biomolecules including proteins, peptides, and nucleic acids. These biomolecules are recovered by cellular rupturing that leads to the release of a large quantity of bacterial cell-wall components containing endotoxins, also known as lipopolysaccharides (LPS). When the LPS contaminated products are administered to animals or humans even in small quantities (0.05–0.1 ng/ml), a systemic inflammatory reaction can occur, leading to multiple pathophysiological effects, such as septic shock, tissue injury, and lethality. Removing undesirable endotoxins from solutions is thus an important aim in the pharmaceutical industry and in clinical practice. Conventional treatments such as coagulation and membrane filtration are adequate for removing bacteria cells and debris but not effective for removing dissolved endotoxins to a significant extent. Therefore, it is highly desirable and also the focus of this project to develop a biodegradable and inexpensive means that can tackle both aspects of endotoxin removal