1
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Wu G, Du J, Yu C, Fu Z, Zhang X, Wang L, Wang J. Mass spectrometry study on SARS-CoV-2 recombinant vaccine with comprehensive separation techniques to characterize complex heterogeneity. Anal Chim Acta 2024; 1297:342349. [PMID: 38438233 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2024.342349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Revised: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 02/04/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, has imposed a major public health threat, which needs effective therapeutics and vaccination strategies. Several potential candidate vaccines being rapidly developed are in clinical evaluation and recombinant vaccine has gained much attention thanks to its potential for greater response predictability, improved efficacy, rapid development and reduced side effects. Recombinant vaccines are designed and manufactured using bacterial, yeast cells or mammalian cells. A small piece of DNA is taken from the virus or bacterium against which we want to protect and inserted into the manufacturing cells. Due to the extremely complex heterogeneity of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant vaccine, single technology platform cannot achieve thorough and accurate characterization of such difficult proteins so integrating comprehensive technologies is essential. This study illustrates an innovative workflow employing multiple separation techniques tandem high-resolution mass spectrometry for comprehensive and in-depth characterization of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant vaccine, including ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC), ion exchange chromatography (IEX) and imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF). The integrated methodology focuses on the importance of cutting-edge icIEF-MS online coupling and icIEF fractionation applied to revealing the heterogeneity secret of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Wu
- School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, No. 103 Wenhua Road, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110016, China
| | - Jialiang Du
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing, 102629, China
| | - Chuanfei Yu
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing, 102629, China
| | - Zhihao Fu
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing, 102629, China
| | - Xiaoxi Zhang
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, A Building, Henggu1976, No.1976 Middle Gaoke Road, Pudong District, 201203, Shanghai, China
| | - Lan Wang
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing, 102629, China
| | - Junzhi Wang
- School of Life Science and Biopharmaceutics, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, No. 103 Wenhua Road, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110016, China.
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2
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Liu S, Yan Y, Secor CM, Oberholtzer ZR, Skow DJ, Sheikh M, Moon Y, Fu Y, Sandu C, Wang S, Li N, Nguyen JB, Rosconi MP, Pyles EA. Enrichment strategy and initial characterization of heterodimers enriched from a co-formulated cocktail of therapeutic antibodies against SARS-COV-2. MAbs 2024; 16:2338301. [PMID: 38591617 PMCID: PMC11005800 DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2024.2338301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Co-formulation of multiple drug products is an efficient and convenient approach to simultaneously deliver multiple biotherapeutics with the potentially added benefit of a synergistic therapeutic effect. However, co-formulation also increases the risk of heteromeric interactions, giving rise to unique impurities with unknown efficacy and immunogenicity. Therefore, it is critical to develop methods to evaluate the risk of heteromers as an impurity that could affect potency, efficacy, and/or immunogenicity. The most direct strategy to evaluate antibody heteromers is via specific enrichment. However, the fact that antibody heterodimers generated from the co-formulated cocktail share highly similar molar mass and size properties as homodimers natively present in each individual antibody drug product poses a unique purification challenge. Here, we report the path to successful enrichment of heterodimers from co-formulated REGEN-COVⓇ and discuss its potential impacts on drug quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophia Liu
- Protein Biochemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc ., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Yuetian Yan
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Cody M. Secor
- Protein Biochemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc ., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | | | - Donna J. Skow
- Therapeutic Proteins, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Mushhood Sheikh
- Therapeutic Proteins, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Youmi Moon
- Protein Biochemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc ., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Yue Fu
- Protein Biochemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc ., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Cristinel Sandu
- Therapeutic Proteins, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Shunhai Wang
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Ning Li
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Jennifer B. Nguyen
- Protein Biochemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc ., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Michael P. Rosconi
- Protein Biochemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc ., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Erica A. Pyles
- Protein Biochemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc ., Tarrytown, NY, USA
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3
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Duivelshof BL, Bouvarel T, Pirner S, Larraillet V, Knaupp A, Koll H, D’Atri V, Guillarme D. Enhancing Selectivity of Protein Biopharmaceuticals in Ion Exchange Chromatography through Addition of Organic Modifiers. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:16623. [PMID: 38068945 PMCID: PMC10706461 DOI: 10.3390/ijms242316623] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Charge heterogeneity among therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is considered an important critical quality attribute and requires careful characterization to ensure safe and efficacious drug products. The charge heterogeneity among mAbs is the result of chemical and enzymatic post-translational modifications and leads to the formation of acidic and basic variants that can be characterized using cation exchange chromatography (CEX). Recently, the use of mass spectrometry-compatible salt-mediated pH gradients has gained increased attention to elute the proteins from the charged stationary phase material. However, with the increasing antibody product complexity, more and more selectivity is required. Therefore, in this study, we set out to improve the selectivity by using a solvent-enriched mobile phase composition for the analysis of a variety of mAbs and bispecific antibody products. It was found that the addition of the solvents to the mobile phase appeared to modify the hydrate shell surrounding the protein and alter the retention behavior of the studied proteins. Therefore, this work demonstrates that the use of solvent-enriched mobile phase composition could be an attractive additional method parameter during method development in CEX.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bastiaan Laurens Duivelshof
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Bouvarel
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | - Hans Koll
- Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Nonnenwald 2, 82377 Penzberg, Germany
| | - Valentina D’Atri
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Davy Guillarme
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
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Mao L, Schneider JW, Robinson AS. Use of single analytic tool to quantify both absolute N-glycosylation and glycan distribution in monoclonal antibodies. Biotechnol Prog 2023; 39:e3365. [PMID: 37221987 DOI: 10.1002/btpr.3365] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2023] [Revised: 04/22/2023] [Accepted: 05/11/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Recombinant proteins represent almost half of the top selling therapeutics-with over a hundred billion dollars in global sales-and their efficacy and safety strongly depend on glycosylation. In this study, we showcase a simple method to simultaneously analyze N-glycan micro- and macroheterogeneity of an immunoglobulin G (IgG) by quantifying glycan occupancy and distribution. Our approach is linear over a wide range of glycan and glycoprotein concentrations down to 25 ng/mL. Additionally, we present a case study demonstrating the effect of small molecule metabolic regulators on glycan heterogeneity using this approach. In particular, sodium oxamate (SOD) decreased Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) glucose metabolism and reduced IgG glycosylation by 40% through upregulating reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reducing the UDP-GlcNAc pool, while maintaining a similar glycan profile to control cultures. Here, we suggest glycan macroheterogeneity as an attribute should be included in bioprocess screening to identify process parameters that optimize culture performance without compromising antibody quality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leran Mao
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - James W Schneider
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Anne S Robinson
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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van Schaick G, Wuhrer M, Domínguez-Vega E. Dopant-enriched nitrogen gas to boost ionization of glycoproteins analyzed with native liquid chromatography coupled to nano-electrospray ionization. Anal Chim Acta 2023; 1265:341271. [PMID: 37230565 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2023.341271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2023] [Revised: 03/27/2023] [Accepted: 04/23/2023] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Proteins carry a plethora of post-translational modifications (PTMs), such as glycosylation or phosphorylation, which may affect stability and activity. Analytical strategies are needed to investigate these PTMs in their native state to determine the link between structure and function. The coupling of native separation techniques with mass spectrometry (MS) has emerged as a powerful tool for in-depth protein characterization. Yet obtaining high ionization efficiency still can be challenging. Here, we explored the potential of dopant-enriched nitrogen (DEN) gas to improve nano-electrospray ionization (nano-ESI)-MS of native proteins after anion exchange chromatography. The dopant gas was enriched with different dopants (acetonitrile, methanol, and isopropanol) and the effects were compared with the use of solely nitrogen gas for six proteins covering a wide range of physicochemical properties. The use of DEN gas resulted generally in lower charge states, independent of the selected dopant. Moreover, less adduct formation was observed, particularly for the acetonitrile-enriched nitrogen gas. Importantly, striking differences in MS signal intensity and spectral quality were observed for extensively glycosylated proteins, where isopropanol- and methanol-enriched nitrogen appeared to be most beneficial. Altogether, the use of DEN gas improved nano-ESI of native glycoproteins and increased spectral quality for highly glycosylated proteins that normally suffer from low ionization efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guusje van Schaick
- Leiden University Medical Center, Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Manfred Wuhrer
- Leiden University Medical Center, Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Elena Domínguez-Vega
- Leiden University Medical Center, Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden, the Netherlands.
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6
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Fan W, Li X, Long Z, Pei D, Shi X, Wang G, Guo Y, Bo T, Zhou Y, Chen T. Integrating ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and imaged capillary isoelectric focusing for in-depth characterization of complex fusion proteins. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 2023; 37:e9484. [PMID: 36735852 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.9484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Fc-fusion proteins represent a successful class of biopharmaceutical products, which combine the tailored pharmacological properties of biological ligands with the multiple functions of the fragment crystallizable domain of immunoglobulins. There is great diversity in terms of possible biological ligands creating highly diverse structures, therefore the analytical characterization of fusion proteins is far more complex than that of monoclonal antibodies and requires the use and development of additional product-specific methods over conventional generic/platform methods. METHODS Employing etanercept analogues as studied fusion proteins, the Orbitrap mass analyzer with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC-MS) and imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) were utilized for the in-depth fusion protein characterization. RESULTS The amino acid sequence coverage, peptide mapping, and post-translational modifications of etanercept analogues were analyzed by UHPLC-MS. The post-translational modification results were complemented by imaged capillary isoelectric focusing to produce quality research on etanercept analogues. CONCLUSIONS The developed workflow integrating UHPLC-MS and icIEF provided an innovative strategy for characterizing complex fusion proteins in the process of quality control and manufacturing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenhong Fan
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Xiang Li
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Zhen Long
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, Beijing, China
| | - Dening Pei
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Xinchang Shi
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Guangyu Wang
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Ying Guo
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Tao Bo
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
| | - Yong Zhou
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Tong Chen
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
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7
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Cotham VC, Liu AP, Wang S, Li N. A generic platform to couple affinity chromatography with native mass spectrometry for the analysis of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. J Pharm Biomed Anal 2023; 228:115337. [PMID: 36933319 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2023.115337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023]
Abstract
Affinity chromatography coupled with native mass spectrometry has emerged as a powerful tool for the analysis of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Exploiting the specific interactions between mAbs and their ligands, these methods not only provide orthogonal means to study the highly complex mAb attributes, but also offer insights on their biological relevance. Despite the great promise, application of affinity chromatography - native mass spectrometry in routine mAb characterization has been limited, largely due to the complicated experimental set up. In this study, we introduced a generic platform to facilitate the online coupling of different affinity separation modes with native mass spectrometry. Built upon a recently introduced native LC-MS platform, this new strategy can accommodate a wide range of chromatographic conditions, and therefore, allow greatly simplified experimental set up and facile swapping of affinity separation modes. The utility of this platform was demonstrated by successful online coupling of three affinity chromatography methods (protein A, FcγRIIIa, and FcRn) with native mass spectrometry. The developed protein A-MS method was tested both in a "bind-and-elute" mode for rapid mAb screening and in a high-resolution resolving mode to study mAb species with altered protein A affinity. The FcγRIIIa-MS method was applied to achieve glycoform-resolved analyses of both IgG1 and IgG4 subclass molecules. The FcRn-MS method was demonstrated in two case studies, where specific post-translational modifications and Fc mutations were known to alter FcRn affinities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria C Cotham
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Anita P Liu
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Shunhai Wang
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA.
| | - Ning Li
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, USA
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Kwok T, Chan SL, Shi J, Zhou M, Schaefer A, Bo T, Li V, Huang T, Chen T. Imaged capillary isoelectric focusing employing fluorocarbon and methylcellulose coated fused silica capillary for characterization of charge heterogeneity of protein biopharmaceuticals. Separation Science Plus 2023. [DOI: 10.1002/sscp.202200160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Kwok
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
| | - She Lin Chan
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
| | - Jessica Shi
- Faculty of Science McGill University Montreal Canada
| | - Mike Zhou
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
| | - Anna Schaefer
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
| | - Tao Bo
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
| | - Victor Li
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
| | - Tiemin Huang
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
| | - Tong Chen
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solutions Ltd. Cambridge Canada
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9
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Zhang X, Kwok T, Zhou M, Du M, Li V, Bo T, Huang T, Chen T. Imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) tandem high resolution mass spectrometry for charged heterogeneity of protein drugs in biopharmaceutical discovery. J Pharm Biomed Anal 2023; 224:115178. [PMID: 36435084 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2022.115178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 11/16/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Since the first commercial imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) instrument was developed twenty years ago, the technology has become the gold standard of quality and manufacturing process control in the biopharmaceutical industry. This is owing to its high-resolution and high-throughput characterization of protein charge heterogeneity. In addition to a charge variant profiling, mass spectrometry (MS) analyses are also desirable to obtain an in-tact molecular weight (MW) and further identification of these charged species. While offline fractionation technologies including isoelectric focusing (IEF) and free flow electrophoresis (FFE) followed by liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometry (MS) coupling have been employed for this purpose, there have been much fewer reported applications of icIEF-based MS connection and fraction collection. Factors that have impeded the development of these icIEF applications include difficulties with a direct connection to the MS interface as well as high background signal of carrier ampholytes and incompatible coated capillary cartridges. In this work, we developed a robust and flexible icIEF-MS platform which overcomes these challenges to achieve both the rapid icIEF separation and high-resolution MS (HRMS) identification of protein charged variants simultaneously. We demonstrate how this methodology proves highly-sensitive and highly reliable for the characterization of commercial monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and antibody-drug-conjugates (ADCs). The whole workflow of icIEF-MS for protein heterogeneity is straight forward and accurate and can be performed within 45 min. Furthermore, the developed icIEF-MS configuration can flexibly switch to icIEF-based fraction collection model allowing the user to perform additional in-depth characterization such as peptide mapping by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Teresa Kwok
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
| | - Mike Zhou
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
| | - Min Du
- Themo Fisher Scientific, Massachusetts, USA.
| | - Victor Li
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
| | - Tao Bo
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
| | - Tiemin Huang
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
| | - Tong Chen
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada.
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10
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Wu G, Yu C, Wang W, Du J, Fu Z, Xu G, Li M, Wang L. Mass Spectrometry-Based Charge Heterogeneity Characterization of Therapeutic mAbs with Imaged Capillary Isoelectric Focusing and Ion-Exchange Chromatography as Separation Techniques. Anal Chem 2023; 95:2548-2560. [PMID: 36656605 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c05071] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) and ion-exchange chromatography (IEX) are two essential techniques that are routinely used for charge variant analysis of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) during their development and in quality control. These two techniques that separate mAb charge variants based on different mechanisms and IEX have been developed as front-end separation techniques for online mass spectrometry (MS) detection, which is robust for intact protein identification. Recently, an innovative, coupled icIEF-MS technology has been constructed for protein charge variant analysis in our laboratory. In this study, icIEF-MS developed and strong cation exchange (SCX)-MS were optimized for charge heterogeneity characterization of a diverse of mAbs and their results were compared based on methodological validation. It was found that icIEF-MS outperformed SCX-MS in this study by demonstrating outstanding sensitivity, low carryover effect, accurate protein identification, and higher separation resolution although SCX-MS contributed to higher analysis throughput. Ultimately, integrating our novel icIEF-HRMS analysis with the more common SCX-MS can provide a promising and comprehensive strategy for accelerating the development of complex protein therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gang Wu
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
| | - Chuanfei Yu
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
| | - Wenbo Wang
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
| | - Jialiang Du
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
| | - Zhihao Fu
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
| | - Gangling Xu
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
| | - Meng Li
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
| | - Lan Wang
- Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Health for Research on Quality and Standardization of Biotech Products, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Daxing District, Beijing 102629, China
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11
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Kwok T, Zhou M, Schaefer A, Bo T, Li V, Huang T, Chen T. Fractionation and online mass spectrometry based on imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) for characterizing charge heterogeneity of therapeutic antibody. Anal Methods 2023; 15:411-418. [PMID: 36537584 DOI: 10.1039/d2ay01670b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) technology has been proved to be robust for the characterization of protein charge heterogeneity due to its high-resolution pI discrimination and high-throughput. Although high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) tandem mass spectrometry (MS) and offline fraction collection technologies including isoelectric focusing (IEF), ion exchange chromatography (IEX) and free flow electrophoresis (FFE) have been widely utilized for protein charge variant characterization, there are a few applications of MS coupling with icIEF as a front-separation technique and related fractionation technologies for protein charge heterogeneity. However, the application of icIEF-MS has been much less frequent due to difficulties in MS interface, compatible ampholyte and coated capillary cartridge designation, ultimately impeding the breadth of icIEF applications in protein charge heterogeneity. In this study, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb-M-AT) was used for its charge variant characterization on an integrated icIEF platform with functions including analytical profiling, MS online coupling and fraction collection for charge heterogeneities. The main protein component and its four charge variants were identified using direct icIEF-MS coupling. Additionally, the two major acidic and basic charge variants were collected using preparative fractionation after the protein focused in the separation capillary. The identity of the fractions was confirmed by LC-MS at intact protein level and the results were consistent with those using icIEF-MS online coupling. The multiple operation modes of the icIEF platform described above can be rapidly and flexibly switched just by changing customized capillary separation cartridges without drastically altering instrument configuration. The whole workflow of icIEF-based profiling, fractionation and MS online coupling for protein heterogeneity is straightforward, reliable, and accurate, thus providing comprehensive solutions for in-depth protein heterogeneity characterization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Kwok
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd, Cambridge, Canada.
| | - Mike Zhou
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd, Cambridge, Canada.
| | - Anna Schaefer
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd, Cambridge, Canada.
| | - Tao Bo
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd, Cambridge, Canada.
| | - Victor Li
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd, Cambridge, Canada.
| | - Tiemin Huang
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd, Cambridge, Canada.
| | - Tong Chen
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd, Cambridge, Canada.
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12
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Zhang X, Chen T, Li V, Bo T, Du M, Huang T. Cutting-edge mass spectrometry strategy based on imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) technology for characterizing charge heterogeneity of monoclonal antibody. Anal Biochem 2023; 660:114961. [PMID: 36341769 DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2022.114961] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2022] [Revised: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 10/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Imaging capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) technology has been becoming the gold criteria of monitoring monoclonal antibody (mAb) charge heterogeneity that is one of the major product-related variants in recombinant biopharmaceuticals, since the first commercial instrument developed twenty years ago. However, the protein identification in icIEF separation is just based on isoelectric point (pI) measurement of protein. Although high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is currently the most powerful means of qualitative protein analysis, traditional icIEF cannot compatibly be used in conjunction with MS due to the use of less volatile reagents. In addition, protein heterogeneity characterization in depth such as peptide mapping by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) requires the focused protein bands to be collected as fractions after the icIEF separation, which is a great challenge in biopharmaceutical discovery. In this work, pembrolizumab was employed as targeting mAb (a highly selective anti-PD-1 humanized mAb), an integrated icIEF platform was developed including analytical profiling, MS coupling and fraction collections for charged variant preparation. Multiple operation modes can be rapidly and flexibly switched just by changing customized capillary separation cartridges without more configurations. Main component, four acidic variants (A1-A4) and three basic variants (B1-B3) were baseline separated then directly detected by icIEF-HRMS online coupling for rapid screening of intact protein heterogeneity where reliable and accurate molecular weight of protein charged variants were obtained. Next, by installing preparative capillary separation cartridge, fractions of major charge variants (A2-3 and B1-2) and main component were collected for following LC-MS peptide mapping characterization. The whole workflow of icIEF-based MS strategy for protein heterogeneity is straight forward, reliable and accurate, which provides a comprehensive and revolutionary technology for protein drug quality control (QC) monitoring, MS coupling for fingerprinting intact protein and HPLC-MS peptide mapping in depth.
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13
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Kwok T, Chan SL, Zhou M, Schaefer A, Bo T, Huang T, Li V, Chen T. High‐efficient characterization of complex protein drugs by imaged capillary isoelectric focusing with high‐resolution ampholytes. Separation Science Plus 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/sscp.202200142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Teresa Kwok
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
| | - She Lin Chan
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
| | - Mike Zhou
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
| | - Anna Schaefer
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
| | - Tao Bo
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
| | - Tiemin Huang
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
| | - Victor Li
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
| | - Tong Chen
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution Ltd Cambridge Canada
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14
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Saikusa K, Kinumi T, Kato M. Development of native mass spectrometry with nanoelectrospray ionization coupled to size exclusion chromatography for proteins. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 2022; 36:e9395. [PMID: 36068720 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.9395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2021] [Revised: 08/07/2022] [Accepted: 09/04/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Native mass spectrometry (MS) is an analytical technique used to determine the molecular mass of protein complexes without cross-linking. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled with native MS using conventional electrospray ionization (ESI) has been reported to allow online buffer exchange. To detect a wide variety of protein complexes without a collapse in the ionization process, it is important to build an online system that enables robust analysis with a low flow rate. METHODS We created an online native MS system equipped with nanoESI connected to the SEC component (online SEC/nanoESI system) and optimized several parameters for SEC separation and ionization. The constructed system was used to measure a solution consisting of a protein mixture of various molecular masses (10-300 kDa) to verify characteristics such as the measurable molecular mass range, reproducibility, and online buffer exchange. RESULTS The optimal flow rates for SEC separation and nanoESI analysis using this system were 200 and 1 μL/min, respectively. This system was able to analyze proteins in the ranges of 10-300 and 20-300 kDa for protein samples in ammonium acetate and nonvolatile buffer, respectively. Furthermore, the results of consecutive measurements showed that the relative standard deviations of the retention times and observed masses for each protein were sufficiently small. CONCLUSIONS We created an online SEC/nanoESI system and evaluated its utility for the analysis of various proteins in conventional measurement solvent and nonvolatile buffer. As a result, the structural stability and resolution of the proteins were found to be sufficient when using online buffer exchange. Therefore, this online SEC/nanoESI system would be a useful technique for obtaining mass spectra of various proteins automatically with good resolution, simply by loading samples into an autosampler.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazumi Saikusa
- National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Tomoya Kinumi
- National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
| | - Megumi Kato
- National Metrology Institute of Japan (NMIJ), National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
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15
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Illes‐Toth E, Hale OJ, Hughes JW, Strittmatter N, Rose J, Clayton B, Sargeant R, Jones S, Dannhorn A, Goodwin RJA, Cooper HJ. Mass Spectrometry Detection and Imaging of a Non‐Covalent Protein–Drug Complex in Tissue from Orally Dosed Rats. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022; 61:e202202075. [PMID: 35830332 PMCID: PMC9542108 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202202075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Here, we demonstrate detection by mass spectrometry of an intact protein–drug complex directly from liver tissue from rats that had been orally dosed with the drug. The protein–drug complex comprised fatty acid binding protein 1, FABP1, non‐covalently bound to the small molecule therapeutic bezafibrate. Moreover, we demonstrate spatial mapping of the [FABP1+bezafibrate] complex across a thin section of liver by targeted mass spectrometry imaging. This work is the first demonstration of in situ mass spectrometry analysis of a non‐covalent protein–drug complex formed in vivo and has implications for early stage drug discovery by providing a route to target‐drug characterization directly from the physiological environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Illes‐Toth
- School of Biosciences University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT UK
| | - Oliver J. Hale
- School of Biosciences University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT UK
| | - James W. Hughes
- School of Biosciences University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT UK
| | - Nicole Strittmatter
- Imaging & Data Analytics Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca Cambridge CB4 0WG UK
| | - Jonathan Rose
- Animal Sciences & Technologies Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences, AstraZeneca Babraham Research Campus Babraham Cambridge, CB22 3AT UK
| | - Ben Clayton
- Animal Sciences & Technologies Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences, AstraZeneca Babraham Research Campus Babraham Cambridge, CB22 3AT UK
| | - Rebecca Sargeant
- Imaging & Data Analytics Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca Cambridge CB4 0WG UK
| | - Stewart Jones
- Imaging & Data Analytics Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca Cambridge CB4 0WG UK
| | - Andreas Dannhorn
- Imaging & Data Analytics Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca Cambridge CB4 0WG UK
| | - Richard J. A. Goodwin
- Imaging & Data Analytics Clinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca Cambridge CB4 0WG UK
| | - Helen J. Cooper
- School of Biosciences University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham B15 2TT UK
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16
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Illes‐Toth E, Hale OJ, Hughes JW, Strittmatter N, Rose J, Clayton B, Sargeant R, Jones S, Dannhorn A, Goodwin RJA, Cooper HJ. Mass Spectrometry Detection and Imaging of a Non-Covalent Protein-Drug Complex in Tissue from Orally Dosed Rats. Angew Chem Weinheim Bergstr Ger 2022; 134:e202202075. [PMID: 38505542 PMCID: PMC10946869 DOI: 10.1002/ange.202202075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Here, we demonstrate detection by mass spectrometry of an intact protein-drug complex directly from liver tissue from rats that had been orally dosed with the drug. The protein-drug complex comprised fatty acid binding protein 1, FABP1, non-covalently bound to the small molecule therapeutic bezafibrate. Moreover, we demonstrate spatial mapping of the [FABP1+bezafibrate] complex across a thin section of liver by targeted mass spectrometry imaging. This work is the first demonstration of in situ mass spectrometry analysis of a non-covalent protein-drug complex formed in vivo and has implications for early stage drug discovery by providing a route to target-drug characterization directly from the physiological environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eva Illes‐Toth
- School of BiosciencesUniversity of BirminghamEdgbastonBirmingham B15 2TTUK
| | - Oliver J. Hale
- School of BiosciencesUniversity of BirminghamEdgbastonBirmingham B15 2TTUK
| | - James W. Hughes
- School of BiosciencesUniversity of BirminghamEdgbastonBirmingham B15 2TTUK
| | - Nicole Strittmatter
- Imaging & Data AnalyticsClinical Pharmacology & Safety SciencesBiopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZenecaCambridgeCB4 0WGUK
| | - Jonathan Rose
- Animal Sciences & TechnologiesClinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences, AstraZenecaBabraham Research CampusBabrahamCambridge, CB22 3ATUK
| | - Ben Clayton
- Animal Sciences & TechnologiesClinical Pharmacology & Safety Sciences, AstraZenecaBabraham Research CampusBabrahamCambridge, CB22 3ATUK
| | - Rebecca Sargeant
- Imaging & Data AnalyticsClinical Pharmacology & Safety SciencesBiopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZenecaCambridgeCB4 0WGUK
| | - Stewart Jones
- Imaging & Data AnalyticsClinical Pharmacology & Safety SciencesBiopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZenecaCambridgeCB4 0WGUK
| | - Andreas Dannhorn
- Imaging & Data AnalyticsClinical Pharmacology & Safety SciencesBiopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZenecaCambridgeCB4 0WGUK
| | - Richard J. A. Goodwin
- Imaging & Data AnalyticsClinical Pharmacology & Safety SciencesBiopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZenecaCambridgeCB4 0WGUK
| | - Helen J. Cooper
- School of BiosciencesUniversity of BirminghamEdgbastonBirmingham B15 2TTUK
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17
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Blevins MS, Juetten KJ, James VK, Butalewicz JP, Escobar EE, Lanzillotti MB, Sanders JD, Fort KL, Brodbelt JS. Nanohydrophobic Interaction Chromatography Coupled to Ultraviolet Photodissociation Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Intact Proteins in Low Charge States. J Proteome Res 2022; 21:2493-2503. [PMID: 36043517 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.2c00450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
The direct correlation between proteoforms and biological phenotype necessitates the exploration of mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods more suitable for proteoform detection and characterization. Here, we couple nano-hydrophobic interaction chromatography (nano-HIC) to ultraviolet photodissociation MS (UVPD-MS) for separation and characterization of intact proteins and proteoforms. High linearity, sensitivity, and sequence coverage are obtained with this method for a variety of proteins. Investigation of collisional cross sections of intact proteins during nano-HIC indicates semifolded conformations in low charge states, enabling a different dimension of separation in comparison to traditional, fully denaturing reversed-phase separations. This method is demonstrated for a mixture of intact proteins from Escherichia coli ribosomes; high sequence coverage is obtained for a variety of modified and unmodified proteoforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Molly S Blevins
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Kyle J Juetten
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Virginia K James
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Jamie P Butalewicz
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Edwin E Escobar
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Michael B Lanzillotti
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - James D Sanders
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
| | - Kyle L Fort
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, Bremen 28199, Germany
| | - Jennifer S Brodbelt
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, United States
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18
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Liu AP, Yan Y, Wang S, Li N. Coupling Anion Exchange Chromatography with Native Mass Spectrometry for Charge Heterogeneity Characterization of Monoclonal Antibodies. Anal Chem 2022; 94:6355-6362. [PMID: 35420790 PMCID: PMC9047409 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c00707] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Despite the recent success of coupling anion exchange chromatography with native mass spectrometry (AEX-MS) to study anionic proteins, the utility of AEX-MS methods in therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) characterization has been limited. In this work, we developed and optimized a salt gradient-based AEX-MS method and explored its utility in charge variant analysis of therapeutic mAbs. We demonstrated that, although the developed AEX-MS method is less useful for IgG1 molecules that have higher isoelectric points (pIs), it is an attractive alternative for charge variant analysis of IgG4 molecules. By elevating the column temperature and lowering the mAb pI through PNGase F-mediated deglycosylation, the chromatographical resolution from AEX separation can be significantly improved. We also demonstrated that, after PNGase F and IdeS digestion, the AEX-MS method exhibited excellent resolving power for multiple attributes in the IgG4 Fc region, including unprocessed C-terminal Lys, N-glycosylation occupancy, and several conserved Fc deamidations, making it ideally suited for multiple attribute monitoring (MAM). Through fractionation and peptide mapping analysis, we also demonstrated that the developed AEX-MS method can provide site-specific and isoform-resolved separation of Fc deamidation products, allowing rapid and artifact-free quantitation of these modifications without performing bottom-up analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anita P Liu
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Yuetian Yan
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Shunhai Wang
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Ning Li
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
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19
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Bailey AO, Huguet R, Mullen C, Syka JEP, Russell WK. Ion-Ion Charge Reduction Addresses Multiple Challenges Common to Denaturing Intact Mass Analysis. Anal Chem 2022; 94:3930-3938. [PMID: 35189062 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c04973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Complete LC-MS-based protein primary sequence characterization requires measurement of intact protein profiles under denaturing and/or reducing conditions. To address issues of protein overcharging of unstructured proteins under acidic, denaturing conditions and sample heterogeneity (macro- and micro-scales) which often confound denaturing intact mass analysis of a wide variety of protein samples, we propose the use of broadband isolation of entire charge state distributions of intact proteins followed by ion-ion proton transfer charge reduction, which we have termed "full scan PTCR" (fsPTCR). Using rapid denaturing size exclusion chromatography coupled to fsPTCR-Orbitrap MS and time-resolved deconvolution data analysis, we demonstrate a strategy for method optimization, leading to significant analytical advantages over conventional MS1. Denaturing analysis of the flexible bacterial translation initiation factor 2 (91 kDa) using fsPTCR reduced overcharging and showed an 11-fold gain in S/N compared to conventional MS1. Analysis by fsPTCR-MS of the microheterogeneous glycoprotein fetuin revealed twice as many proteoforms as MS1 (112 vs 56). In a macroheterogeneous mixture of proteins ranging from 14 to 148 kDa, fsPTCR provided more than 10-fold increased sensitivity and quantitative accuracy for diluted bovine serum albumin (66 kDa). Finally, our analysis shows that collisional gas pressure is a key parameter which can be utilized during fsPTCR to retain or remove larger proteins from acquired spectra.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron O Bailey
- University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Drive, Galveston, Texas 77551, United States
| | - Romain Huguet
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, 355 River Oaks Pkwy, San Jose, California 95134, United States
| | - Christopher Mullen
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, 355 River Oaks Pkwy, San Jose, California 95134, United States
| | - John E P Syka
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, 355 River Oaks Pkwy, San Jose, California 95134, United States
| | - William K Russell
- University of Texas Medical Branch, 301 University Drive, Galveston, Texas 77551, United States
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20
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van Schaick G, el Hajjouti N, Nicolardi S, den Hartog J, Jansen R, van der Hoeven R, Bijleveld W, Abello N, Wuhrer M, Olsthoorn MMA, Domínguez-Vega E. Native Liquid Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry to Structurally and Functionally Characterize Endo-Xylanase Proteoforms. Int J Mol Sci 2022; 23:ijms23031307. [PMID: 35163230 PMCID: PMC8835838 DOI: 10.3390/ijms23031307] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2021] [Revised: 01/17/2022] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Xylanases are of great value in various industries, including paper, food, and biorefinery. Due to their biotechnological production, these enzymes can contain a variety of post-translational modifications, which may have a profound effect on protein function. Understanding the structure–function relationship can guide the development of products with optimal performance. We have developed a workflow for the structural and functional characterization of an endo-1,4-β-xylanase (ENDO-I) produced by Aspergillus niger with and without applying thermal stress. This workflow relies on orthogonal native separation techniques to resolve proteoforms. Mass spectrometry and activity assays of separated proteoforms permitted the establishment of structure–function relationships. The separation conditions were focus on balancing efficient separation and protein functionality. We employed size exclusion chromatography (SEC) to separate ENDO-I from other co-expressed proteins. Charge variants were investigated with ion exchange chromatography (IEX) and revealed the presence of low abundant glycated variants in the temperature-stressed material. To obtain better insights into the effect on glycation on function, we enriched for these species using boronate affinity chromatography (BAC). The activity measurements showed lower activity of glycated species compared to the non-modified enzyme. Altogether, this workflow allowed in-depth structural and functional characterization of ENDO-I proteoforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guusje van Schaick
- Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands; (N.e.H.); (S.N.); (M.W.); (E.D.-V.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Nadi el Hajjouti
- Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands; (N.e.H.); (S.N.); (M.W.); (E.D.-V.)
| | - Simone Nicolardi
- Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands; (N.e.H.); (S.N.); (M.W.); (E.D.-V.)
| | - Joost den Hartog
- Center for Analytical Innovation, DSM, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands; (J.d.H.); (R.J.); (R.v.d.H.); (W.B.); (N.A.); (M.M.A.O.)
| | - Romana Jansen
- Center for Analytical Innovation, DSM, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands; (J.d.H.); (R.J.); (R.v.d.H.); (W.B.); (N.A.); (M.M.A.O.)
| | - Rob van der Hoeven
- Center for Analytical Innovation, DSM, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands; (J.d.H.); (R.J.); (R.v.d.H.); (W.B.); (N.A.); (M.M.A.O.)
| | - Wim Bijleveld
- Center for Analytical Innovation, DSM, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands; (J.d.H.); (R.J.); (R.v.d.H.); (W.B.); (N.A.); (M.M.A.O.)
| | - Nicolas Abello
- Center for Analytical Innovation, DSM, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands; (J.d.H.); (R.J.); (R.v.d.H.); (W.B.); (N.A.); (M.M.A.O.)
| | - Manfred Wuhrer
- Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands; (N.e.H.); (S.N.); (M.W.); (E.D.-V.)
| | - Maurien M. A. Olsthoorn
- Center for Analytical Innovation, DSM, Alexander Fleminglaan 1, 2613 AX Delft, The Netherlands; (J.d.H.); (R.J.); (R.v.d.H.); (W.B.); (N.A.); (M.M.A.O.)
| | - Elena Domínguez-Vega
- Center for Proteomics and Metabolomics, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands; (N.e.H.); (S.N.); (M.W.); (E.D.-V.)
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21
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van Schaick G, Haselberg R, Somsen GW, Wuhrer M, Domínguez-vega E. Studying protein structure and function by native separation–mass spectrometry. Nat Rev Chem. [PMID: 37117432 DOI: 10.1038/s41570-021-00353-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Alterations in protein structure may have profound effects on biological function. Analytical techniques that permit characterization of proteins while maintaining their conformational and functional state are crucial for studying changes in the higher order structure of proteins and for establishing structure-function relationships. Coupling of native protein separations with mass spectrometry is emerging rapidly as a powerful approach to study these aspects in a reliable, fast and straightforward way. This Review presents the available native separation modes for proteins, covers practical considerations on the hyphenation of these separations with mass spectrometry and highlights the involvement of affinity-based separations to simultaneously obtain structural and functional information of proteins. The impact of these approaches is emphasized by selected applications addressing biomedical and biopharmaceutical research questions.
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22
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Zhang Z, Yan Y, Wang S, Li N. A competitive binding-mass spectrometry strategy for high-throughput evaluation of potential critical quality attributes of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies. MAbs 2022; 14:2133674. [PMID: 36224723 PMCID: PMC9559042 DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2022.2133674] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have a propensity to host a large number of chemical and enzymatical modifications that need to be properly assessed for their potential impact on target binding. Traditional strategies of assessing the criticality of these attributes often involve a laborious and low-throughput variant enrichment step prior to binding affinity measurement. Here, we developed a novel competitive binding-based enrichment strategy followed by mass spectrometry analysis (namely, competitive binding-MS) to achieve high-throughput evaluation of potential critical quality attributes in therapeutic mAbs. Leveraging the differences in target binding capability under competitive binding conditions, the criticality of multiple mAb attributes can be simultaneously evaluated by quantitative mass spectrometry analysis. The utility of this new workflow was demonstrated in three mAb case studies, where different post-translational modifications occurring within the complementarity-determining regions were successfully interrogated for their impact on antigen binding. As this workflow does not require prior enrichment (e.g., by forced degradation or liquid chromatography fractionation) of the variants, it is particularly valuable during the mAb candidate developability assessment, where fast turn-around time is highly desired to assist candidate selection. Abbreviations: ACN: acetonitrile; ADCC: antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity; AEX: anion exchange chromatography; bsAb: bispecific antibody; CDC: complement-dependent cytotoxicity; CDR: complementarity-determining region; CML: carboxymethylation; CQA: critical quality attribute; DDA: data-dependent acquisition; DMSO: dimethyl sulfoxide; DTT: dithiothreitol; FA: formic acid; Fab: Fragment antigen-binding; FcRn: neonatal Fc receptor; HC: heavy chain; HIC: hydrophobic interaction chromatography; IAA: iodoacetamide; IEX: ion exchange chromatography; LC: light chain; mAb monoclonal antibody; msAb: monospecific antibody; MS: mass spectrometry; PBS: phosphate-buffered saline; pI: isoelectric point; PTM: post-translational modification; SCX: strong cation exchange chromatography; SEC: size exclusion chromatography; SPR: surface plasmon resonance; XIC: extracted ion chromatography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhengqi Zhang
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Yuetian Yan
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Shunhai Wang
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, NY, USA
| | - Ning Li
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, NY, USA
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23
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Yan Y, Xing T, Liu AP, Zhang Z, Wang S, Li N. Post-Column Denaturation-Assisted Native Size-Exclusion Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for Rapid and In-Depth Characterization of High Molecular Weight Variants in Therapeutic Monoclonal Antibodies. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2021; 32:2885-2894. [PMID: 34786946 DOI: 10.1021/jasms.1c00289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The high molecular weight (HMW) size variants present in therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) samples need to be closely monitored and characterized due to their impact on product safety and efficacy. Because of the complexity and often low abundances in final drug substance (DS) samples, characterization of such HMW species is challenging and traditionally requires offline enrichment of the HMW species followed by analysis using various analytical tools. Here, we report the development of a postcolumn denaturation-assisted native SEC-MS method that allows rapid and in-depth characterization of mAb HMW species directly from unfractionated DS samples. This method not only provides high-confidence identification of HMW complexes based on accurate mass measurement of both the intact assembly and the constituent subunits but also allows in-depth analysis of the interaction nature and location. In addition, using the extracted ion chromatograms, derived from high-quality, native-like mass spectra, the elution profiles of each noncovalent and/or nondissociable complex can be readily reconstructed, facilitating the comprehension of a complex HMW profile. The utility of this novel method was demonstrated in different applications, ranging from enriched HMW characterization at late stage development, comparability assessment due to process changes, and forced degradation study of coformulated mAbs. As this method does not require prior enrichment, it is thus desirable for providing both rapid and in-depth characterization of HMW species during the development of therapeutic mAbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuetian Yan
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Tao Xing
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Anita P Liu
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Zhengqi Zhang
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Shunhai Wang
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
| | - Ning Li
- Analytical Chemistry Group, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707, United States
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24
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Murisier A, Duivelshof BL, Fekete S, Bourquin J, Schmudlach A, Lauber MA, Nguyen JM, Beck A, Guillarme D, D'Atri V. Towards a simple on-line coupling of ion exchange chromatography and native mass spectrometry for the detailed characterization of monoclonal antibodies. J Chromatogr A 2021; 1655:462499. [PMID: 34487883 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2021.462499] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Revised: 08/20/2021] [Accepted: 08/22/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
This work describes the direct hyphenation of cation exchange chromatography (CEX) with a compact, easy-to-use benchtop Time of Flight mass spectrometer (ToF/MS) for the analytical characterization of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). For this purpose, a wide range of commercial mAb products (including expired samples and mAb biosimilars) were selected to draw reliable conclusions. From a chromatographic point of view, various buffers and column dimensions were tested. When considering pH response, buffer stability over time and MS compatibility, the best compromise is represented by the following recipe: 50 mM ammonium acetate, titrated to pH 5.0 (mobile phase A) and 160 mM ammonium acetate, titrated to pH 8.5 (mobile phase B). Despite the broader peaks observed with the 2.1 mm i.d. CEX column, this was preferentially selected for CEX-MS operation, since the efficiency loss (caused by extra-column dispersion) was still acceptable while MS compatibility was strongly enhanced (thanks to low flow rate). In terms of MS, it was important to avoid the use of glass-bottled mobile phases, laboratory glassware and glass vials to minimize loss of MS resolution, sensitivity, and mass accuracy due to metal contaminants. With this new CEX-MS setup, straightforward and rapid analysis (in less than 10 min) of charge variants was possible, allowing the separation and identification of several charge variants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amarande Murisier
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland; School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Bastiaan L Duivelshof
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland; School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Szabolcs Fekete
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland; School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Julien Bourquin
- Waters Corporation, 34 Maple Street, Milford, Massachusetts 01757-3696, United States
| | - Andrew Schmudlach
- Waters Corporation, 34 Maple Street, Milford, Massachusetts 01757-3696, United States
| | - Matthew A Lauber
- Waters Corporation, 34 Maple Street, Milford, Massachusetts 01757-3696, United States
| | - Jennifer M Nguyen
- Waters Corporation, 34 Maple Street, Milford, Massachusetts 01757-3696, United States
| | - Alain Beck
- IRPF - Centre d'Immunologie Pierre-Fabre (CIPF), 5 Avenue Napoléon III, BP 60497 Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, France
| | - Davy Guillarme
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland; School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
| | - Valentina D'Atri
- Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland; School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU-Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
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25
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Chen G, Tao L, Li Z. Recent advancements in mass spectrometry for higher order structure characterization of protein therapeutics. Drug Discov Today 2021; 27:196-206. [PMID: 34571276 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2021.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/02/2021] [Revised: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Molecular characterization of higher order structure (HOS) in protein therapeutics is crucial to the selection of candidate molecules, understanding of structure-function relationships, formulation development, stability assessment, and comparability studies. Recent advances in mass spectrometry (MS), including native MS, hydrogen/deuterium exchange (HDX)-MS, and fast photochemical oxidation of proteins (FPOP) coupled with MS, have provided orthogonal ways to characterize HOS of protein therapeutics. In this review, we present the utility of native MS, HDX-MS and FPOP-MS in protein therapeutics discovery and development, with a focus on epitope mapping, aggregation assessment, and comparability studies. We also discuss future trends in the application of these MS methods to HOS characterization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guodong Chen
- Analytical Development and Attribute Sciences, Biologics Development, Global Product Development and Supply, Bristol Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ, USA.
| | - Li Tao
- Analytical Development and Attribute Sciences, Biologics Development, Global Product Development and Supply, Bristol Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Zhengjian Li
- Analytical Development and Attribute Sciences, Biologics Development, Global Product Development and Supply, Bristol Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
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26
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Vimer S, Ben-Nissan G, Marty M, Fleishman SJ, Sharon M. Direct-MS analysis of antibody-antigen complexes. Proteomics 2021; 21:e2000300. [PMID: 34310051 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.202000300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
In recent decades, antibodies (Abs) have attracted the attention of academia and the biopharmaceutical industry due to their therapeutic properties and versatility in binding a vast spectrum of antigens. Different engineering strategies have been developed for optimizing Ab specificity, efficacy, affinity, stability and production, enabling systematic screening and analysis procedures for selecting lead candidates. This quality assessment is critical but usually demands time-consuming and labor-intensive purification procedures. Here, we harnessed the direct-mass spectrometry (direct-MS) approach, in which the analysis is carried out directly from the crude growth media, for the rapid, structural characterization of designed Abs. We demonstrate that properties such as stability, specificity and interactions with antigens can be defined, without the need for prior purification.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shay Vimer
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Gili Ben-Nissan
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Michael Marty
- Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
| | - Sarel J Fleishman
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Michal Sharon
- Department of Biomolecular Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel
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