Methods for providing purified viral particles of semliki forest virus (sfv), preparations obtainable thereby, and uses thereof.

The invention relates to purified vaccine preparations and methods for providing them. Provided is a method for providing purified viral particles of SFV, comprising the steps of i) providing a preparation of SFV replicon particles; ii) subjecting said preparation to an endonuclease treatment under conditions allowing for degradation of exogenous/host cell DNA and RNA; iii) bringing said endonuclease-treated preparation with a zwitterionic buffer solution to a conductivity of up to about 5.5 mS/cm; iv) contacting the preparation obtained in step (iii) with a strong anion exchange resin; v) eluting the bound SFV replicon particles from said anion exchange resin; vi) bringing the eluted SFV particles to a conductivity in the range of 7.0 to 9.0 mS/cm; vii) contacting the preparation obtained in step (vi) with a strong cation exchange resin under conditions and for a time sufficient to bind to said resin; viii) eluting the bound SFV replicon particles from said cation exchange resin with a zwitterionic buffer solution and collecting at least one fraction containing purified SFV replicon particles; and ix) stabilizing the at least one purified fraction by adding human serum albumin (HSA) to a final concentration in the range of about 0.5 - 2 w/v%, preferably about 1 w/v%.