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Pirrone GF, Munsell EV, Ferguson HM, Al-Sayah MA, Luthra SA, Makarov AA. Automated High-Throughput Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry Methodology for Formulation Assessment of Polyethylene-Glycol-Conjugated Cytokine Proteins. J Pharm Sci 2023; 112:2778-2782. [PMID: 37478972 DOI: 10.1016/j.xphs.2023.07.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2023] [Revised: 07/13/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023]
Abstract
Biological therapeutics are major contributors to the pharmaceutical pipeline and continue to grow in sales and scope. Additionally, the field's understanding of cancer biology has advanced such that biopharmaceuticals can harness the power of the immune system for oncology treatments. Several of these novel therapeutics are engineered versions of naturally occurring proteins designed to improve therapeutic properties including potency, target engagement and half-life extension. Cytokines, such as interferons and interleukins, are a broad class of signaling proteins which modulate the body's immune response; engineered cytokines have entered the clinic as promising new immuno-oncology therapies. While these therapies hold great promise, their additional structural complexity introduces analytical challenges, and traditional analytical platforms may be ill-suited to effectively assess product development risks. Further, the pharmaceutical industry relies on streamlining approaches for high-throughput experimentation to achieve speed and efficiency for the discovery and development of new modalities. These demands necessitate the use of state-of-the-art techniques to rapidly characterize these new modalities and guide process development and optimization. Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-MS) is a rapid, sensitive and automatable technique amenable for high-throughput analysis of proteins. In this work, we have developed an automated MALDI-MS platform to prepare, acquire and analyze molecular degradation in engineered PEGylated cytokines formulation samples. This orthogonal technique integrated seamlessly with current developability risk assessment workflows, ultimately enabling selection of a final formulation strategy for clinical development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory F Pirrone
- Merck & Co., Inc., Analytical Research & Development, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Erik V Munsell
- Merck & Co., Inc., Discovery Pharmaceutical Sciences, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Heidi M Ferguson
- Merck & Co., Inc., Discovery Pharmaceutical Sciences, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Mohammad A Al-Sayah
- Merck & Co., Inc., Analytical Research & Development, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Suman A Luthra
- Merck & Co., Inc., Discovery Pharmaceutical Sciences, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Alexey A Makarov
- Merck & Co., Inc., Analytical Research & Development, 33 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA, USA.
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2
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Mukherjee D, Trigo-Mouriño P, Jiang Y, Nowak T, Shchurik V, Adpressa DA, Louie MT, Reynolds SR, Hohn MJ, Al-Sayah MA, Pirrone GF, Makarov AA. Rapid antibody conformational screening by matrix assisted laser desorption ionization hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry. J Sep Sci 2022; 45:2055-2063. [PMID: 35108448 DOI: 10.1002/jssc.202100986] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Recent advances in the field of cancer biology have accelerated the discovery and development of novel biopharmaceuticals. At the forefront of these drug development efforts are high-throughput screening, compressed timelines and limited sample quantities, all characteristic of the discovery space. To meet program targets, large numbers of protein variants must be produced, screened, and characterized, presenting a daunting analytical challenge. Additionally, higher-order structure is paramount for protein function and must be monitored as a critical quality attribute. Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization MS has been utilized as an ultra-fast, automatable, sample-sparing analytical tool for biomolecules. Our group has published applications integrating Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange MS with Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization MS for the rapid conformational characterization of small proteins, the current work expands this application to monoclonal and bi-specific antibodies. This study demonstrates the ability of the methodology Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange MS to detect conformational differences between bi-specific antibodies from different expression host. These conformational differences were validated by orthogonal techniques including Circular Dichroism, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Size-Exclusion Chromatography Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange MS. This work demonstrates the utility of applying the developed methodology as a rapid conformational screening tool to triage samples for further analytical characterization. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Debopreeti Mukherjee
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Pablo Trigo-Mouriño
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Yuan Jiang
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Timothy Nowak
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Vladimir Shchurik
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Donovon A Adpressa
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | | | | | - Michael J Hohn
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | | | - Gregory F Pirrone
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Alexey A Makarov
- Merck & Co. Inc., MRL, Analytical Research & Development, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
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Harvey DJ. ANALYSIS OF CARBOHYDRATES AND GLYCOCONJUGATES BY MATRIX-ASSISTED LASER DESORPTION/IONIZATION MASS SPECTROMETRY: AN UPDATE FOR 2015-2016. MASS SPECTROMETRY REVIEWS 2021; 40:408-565. [PMID: 33725404 DOI: 10.1002/mas.21651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/24/2020] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This review is the ninth update of the original article published in 1999 on the application of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry to the analysis of carbohydrates and glycoconjugates and brings coverage of the literature to the end of 2016. Also included are papers that describe methods appropriate to analysis by MALDI, such as sample preparation techniques, even though the ionization method is not MALDI. Topics covered in the first part of the review include general aspects such as theory of the MALDI process, matrices, derivatization, MALDI imaging, fragmentation and arrays. The second part of the review is devoted to applications to various structural types such as oligo- and poly-saccharides, glycoproteins, glycolipids, glycosides and biopharmaceuticals. Much of this material is presented in tabular form. The third part of the review covers medical and industrial applications of the technique, studies of enzyme reactions and applications to chemical synthesis. The reported work shows increasing use of combined new techniques such as ion mobility and the enormous impact that MALDI imaging is having. MALDI, although invented over 30 years ago is still an ideal technique for carbohydrate analysis and advancements in the technique and range of applications show no sign of deminishing. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- David J Harvey
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, Target Discovery Institute, University of Oxford, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, OX3 7FZ, United Kingdom
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Donald LJ, Spearman M, Mishra N, Komatsu E, Butler M, Perreault H. Mass spectrometric analysis of core fucosylation and sequence variation in a human-camelid monoclonal antibody. Mol Omics 2020; 16:221-230. [PMID: 32163054 DOI: 10.1039/c9mo00168a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was used to measure the masses of an intact dimeric monoclonal antibody (Mab) and assess the fucosylation level. The Mab under study was EG2-hFc, a chimeric human-camelid antibody of about 80 kDa (A. Bell et al., Cancer Lett., 2010, 289(1), 81-90). It was obtained from cell culture with and without a fucosylation inhibitor, and treated with EndoS which cleaves between the two core N-acetyl glucosamine (GlcNAc) residues. It is the first time that this combined approach with a unique mass spectrometer was used to measure 146 Da differences as part of a large intact dimeric antibody. Results showed that in the dimer, both heavy chains were fucosylated on the core GlcNAc of the Fc Asn site equivalent to Asn297. In the presence of the fucosylation inhibitor, fucosylation was lost on both subunits. Following reduction, monomers were analyzed and the masses obtained corroborated the dimer results. Dimeric EG2-hFc Mab treated with PNGase F, to deglycosylate the protein, was also measured by MS for mass comparison. In spite of the success of fucosylation level measurements, the experimental masses of deglycosylated dimers and GlcNAc-Fuc bearing dimers did not correspond to masses of our sequence of reference (A. Bell et al., Cancer Lett., 2010, 289(1), 81-90; ; ), which prompted experiments to determine the protein backbone sequence. Digest mixtures from trypsin, GluC, as well as trypsin + GluC proteolysis were analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) MS and MS/MS. A few variations were found relative to the reference sequence, which are discussed in detail herein. These measurements allowed us to build a new "experimental" sequence for the EG2-hFc samples investigated in this work, although there are still ambiguities to be resolved in this new sequence. MALDI-MS/MS also confirmed the fucosylation pattern in the Fc tryptic peptide EEQYNSTYR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lynda J Donald
- Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2, Canada
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Ikegami T. Hydrophilic interaction chromatography for the analysis of biopharmaceutical drugs and therapeutic peptides: A review based on the separation characteristics of the hydrophilic interaction chromatography phases. J Sep Sci 2019; 42:130-213. [DOI: 10.1002/jssc.201801074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2018] [Revised: 11/17/2018] [Accepted: 11/18/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tohru Ikegami
- Faculty of Molecular Chemistry and Engineering; Kyoto Institute of Technology; Kyoto Japan
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Pharmaceutical (Bio-) Analysis; Eberhard-Karls Universität Tübingen; Tübingen Germany
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Roy R, Ang E, Komatsu E, Domalaon R, Bosseboeuf A, Harb J, Hermouet S, Krokhin O, Schweizer F, Perreault H. Absolute Quantitation of Glycoforms of Two Human IgG Subclasses Using Synthetic Fc Peptides and Glycopeptides. JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MASS SPECTROMETRY 2018; 29:1086-1098. [PMID: 29796736 DOI: 10.1007/s13361-018-1900-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2017] [Revised: 12/21/2017] [Accepted: 12/21/2017] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Immunoglobulins, such as immunoglobulin G (IgG), are of prime importance in the immune system. Polyclonal human IgG comprises four subclasses, of which IgG1 and IgG2 are the most abundant in healthy individuals. In an effort to develop an absolute MALDI-ToF-MS quantitative method for these subclasses and their Fc N-glycoforms, (glyco)peptides were synthesized using a solid-phase approach and used as internal standards. Tryptic digest glycopeptides from monoclonal IgG1 and IgG2 samples were first quantified using EEQYN(GlcNAc)STYR and EEQFN(GlcNAc)STFR standards, respectively. For IgG1, a similar glycopeptide where tyrosine (Y) was isotopically labelled was used to quantify monoclonal IgG1 that had been treated with the enzyme Endo-F2, i.e., yielding tryptic glycopeptide EEQYN(GlcNAc)STYR. The next step was to quantify single subclasses within polyclonal human IgG samples. Although ion abundances in the MALDI spectra often showed higher signals for IgG2 than IgG1, depending on the spotting solvent used, determination of amounts using the newly developed quantitative method allowed to obtain accurate concentrations where IgG1 species were predominant. It was observed that simultaneous analysis of IgG1 and IgG2 yielded non-quantitative results and that more success was obtained when subclasses were quantified one by one. More experiments served to assess the respective extraction and ionization efficiencies of EEQYNSTYR/EEQFNSTFR and EEQYN(GlcNAc)STYR/EEQFN(GlcNAc)STFR mixtures under different solvent and concentration conditions. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rini Roy
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Evelyn Ang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
- Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 3P4, Canada
| | - Emy Komatsu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Ronald Domalaon
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Adrien Bosseboeuf
- CRCINA, Inserm U1232, Institut de Recherche en Santé 2, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
| | - Jean Harb
- Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie UMR1064, Inserm, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
| | - Sylvie Hermouet
- CRCINA, Inserm U1232, Institut de Recherche en Santé 2, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France
| | - Oleg Krokhin
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
- Manitoba Centre for Proteomics and Systems Biology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3E 3P4, Canada
| | - Frank Schweizer
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Hélène Perreault
- Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada.
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Komatsu E, Buist M, Roy R, Gomes de Oliveira AG, Bodnar E, Salama A, Soulillou JP, Perreault H. Characterization of immunoglobulins through analysis of N-glycopeptides by MALDI-TOF MS. Methods 2016; 104:170-81. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2016.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2015] [Revised: 12/17/2015] [Accepted: 01/06/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
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Gomes de Oliveira AG, Roy R, Raymond C, Bodnar ED, Tayi VS, Butler M, Durocher Y, Perreault H. A systematic study of glycopeptide esterification for the semi-quantitative determination of sialylation in antibodies. RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY : RCM 2015; 29:1817-26. [PMID: 26331933 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.7287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2015] [Revised: 07/15/2015] [Accepted: 07/23/2015] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE In the expression of recombinant proteins, an important parameter to control or influence is their level of sialylation. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometric (MS) methods tend to either underestimate (positive mode) or overestimate (negative mode) the content of sialylated vs. neutral glycans in glycoproteins. Esterification methods have been developed for free sialylated glycans and sialylated Asn-glycans, allowing these acidic groups to ionize with the same efficiency as neutral sugars. METHODS Here we describe a method which modifies glycopeptides by esterification. This simple procedure is applied to glycopeptides isolated from tryptic digests of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), some highly sialylated. To better understand the effect of esterification on the peptide backbone, synthetic EEQYNSTYR was esterified and studied by tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Acetamidation of EEQYNSTYR was also studied as some mAb samples had been overalkylated prior to tryptic digestion. RESULTS As a general trend, ethyl-esterification or lactonization is observed for each sialic acid on glycoforms of EEQYNSTYR (the N-glycosylated tryptic peptide of IgG Fc), depending on the branching position of the sialic acid (α2,3 or α2,6). Esterification also affects the carboxyl groups in the peptide, including the C-terminal COOH. CONCLUSIONS For antibody analysis, MALDI-MS ion abundances give a better semi-quantitative estimate of sialylation levels for esterified than for unreacted glycopeptides. The method is simple to use and helps to differentiate the branching patterns of sialic acids in antibodies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rini Roy
- Chemistry Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3T2N2
| | - Céline Raymond
- Human Health Therapeutics Portfolio, National Research Council Canada, Montreal, QC, Canada, H4P2R2
- Département de biochimie et médecine moléculaire, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3C3J7
| | - Edward D Bodnar
- Chemistry Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3T2N2
| | - Venkata S Tayi
- Microbiology Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3T2N2
| | - Michael Butler
- Microbiology Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3T2N2
| | - Yves Durocher
- Human Health Therapeutics Portfolio, National Research Council Canada, Montreal, QC, Canada, H4P2R2
- Département de biochimie et médecine moléculaire, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3C3J7
| | - Hélène Perreault
- Chemistry Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R3T2N2
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Bodnar E, Raymond C, Lopez PG, Villacrés C, Butler M, Schoenhofen IC, Durocher Y, Perreault H. Mass spectrometric analysis of products of metabolic glycan engineering with azido-modification of sialic acids. Anal Bioanal Chem 2015; 407:8945-58. [PMID: 26362153 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-015-9010-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2015] [Revised: 07/22/2015] [Accepted: 08/26/2015] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Metabolic engineering of glycans present on antibodies and other glycoproteins is becoming an interesting research area for improving our understanding of the glycome. With knowledge of the sialic acid biosynthetic pathways, the experiments described in this report are based on a published procedure involving the addition of a synthesized azido-mannosamine sugar into cell culture media and evaluation of downstream expression as azido-sialic acid. This unique bioorthogonal sugar has the potential for a variety of "click chemistry" reactions through the azide linkage, which allow for it to be isolated and quantified given the choice of label. In this report, mass spectrometry was used to investigate and optimize the cellular absorption of peracetylated N-azidoacetylmannosamine (Ac4ManNAz) to form N-azidoacetylneuraminic acid (SiaNAz) in a Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line transiently expressing a double mutant trastuzumab (TZMm2), human galactosyltransferase 1 (GT), and human α-2,6-sialyltransferase (ST6). This in vivo approach is compared to in vitro enzymatic addition SiaNAz onto TZMm2 using soluble β-galactosamide α-2,6-sialyltransferase 1 and CMP-SiaNAz as donor. The in vivo results suggest that for this mAb, concentrations above 100 μM of Ac4ManNAz are necessary to allow for observation of terminal SiaNAz on tryptic peptides of TZMm2 by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry. This is further confirmed by a parallel study on the production of EG2-hFc monoclonal antibody (Zhang J et al. Prot Expr Purific 65(1); 77-82, 2009) in the presence of increasing concentrations of Ac4ManNAz.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Bodnar
- Chemistry Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Céline Raymond
- Human Health Therapeutics Portfolio, National Research Council Canada, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.,Département de biochimie et médecine moléculaire, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Paul G Lopez
- Chemistry Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Carina Villacrés
- Microbiology Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Michael Butler
- Microbiology Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada
| | - Ian C Schoenhofen
- Human Health Therapeutics Portfolio, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0R6, Canada
| | - Yves Durocher
- Human Health Therapeutics Portfolio, National Research Council Canada, Montreal, QC, H4P 2R2, Canada.,Département de biochimie et médecine moléculaire, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada
| | - Hélène Perreault
- Chemistry Department, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada.
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