Blood product transfusion can transmit viral pathogens. Pathogen reduction methods for blood products have been developed but, so far, are not available for whole blood. We evaluated if Vitamin K5 (VK5) and ultraviolet light A (UVA) irradiation could be used for virus inactivation in plasma and whole blood. Undiluted human plasma and whole blood diluted to 20% were spiked with high levels of vaccinia or Zika viruses. Infectious titers were measured by standard TCID assay before and after VK5/ UVA treatments. Up to 3.6 log of vaccinia and 3.2 log of Zika were reduced in plasma by the combination of 500 μM VK5 and 3 J/cm UVA, and 3.1 log of vaccinia and 2.9 log of Zika were reduced in diluted human blood (20%) by the combination of 500 μM VK5 and 70 J/cm UVA. At end of whole blood treatment hemolysis increased from 0.18% to 0.41% but remained below the 1% hemolysis which is acceptable to the FDA for red cell transfusion products. No significant alteration of biochemical parameters of red blood cells occurred with treatment. Our results provide a proof of a concept that a viral pathogen reduction method based on VK5/UVA may be developed for whole blood. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

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