Long-term stability of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator at -80 C.

Background: Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a thrombolytic widely used clinically in the treatment of acute thrombotic disease such as ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and deep venous thrombosis. This has led to much interest in tPA based lytic therapies leading to laboratory based in-vitro and in-vivo investigations using this drug. However, tPA reconstituted in solution exhibits full activity for only 6-8 hours, according to the manufacturer. Therefore, methods to store reconstituted tPA for long durations while maintaining activity would be of assistance to laboratories using this enzyme.

Findings: In this work, the enzymatic activity of tPA stored at -80 C over time was measured, using an ELISA technique that measured the amount of active tPA bound to plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) in a given sample. Sample of tPA solution mixed to a concentration of 1 (mg/ml) were stored in cryogenic vials at -80 C for up to 7 years. For a given sample, aliquots were assayed for tPA activity, and compared with a tPA standard to determine relative enzymatic activity. Results are reported as means with standard errors, and 12 measurements were performed for each sample age.

Conclusion: There was no decrease in tPA activity for samples stored up to 7 years. Such cryogenic storage is a viable method for the preservation of tPA solution for laboratory investigations of tPA-based lytic therapies.