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E SY, Hu Y, Molden R, Qiu H, Li N. Identification and Quantification of a Problematic Host Cell Protein to Support Therapeutic Protein Development. J Pharm Sci 2023; 112:673-679. [PMID: 36220394 DOI: 10.1016/j.xphs.2022.10.008] [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: 07/10/2022] [Revised: 10/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Monitoring of residual host cell proteins (HCPs) in therapeutic protein is essential to ensure product quality, safety and efficacy. Despite the development of advanced mass spectrometry techniques and optimized workflows, identifying and quantifying all problematic HCPs present at low levels remain challenging. Here, we developed a practical, effective strategy for the identification and quantification of low abundance HCPs, which facilitates the improvement of downstream purification process to eliminate potentially problematic HCPs. A case study of using this strategy to investigate a problematic HCP is presented. Initially, a commonly used native digestion approach coupled with UPLC-MS/MS was applied for HCP profiling, wherein several lipases and proteases were identified in a monoclonal antibody named mAb1 in early stages of purification process development. A highly active lipase, liver carboxylesterase (CES), was found to be responsible for polysorbate 80 degradation. To facilitate process improvement, after the identification of CES, we developed a highly sensitive LC-MS/MS-MRM assay with a lower limit of quantification of 0.05 ppm for routine monitoring of the CES in mAb1 produced through the different processes. This workflow was applied in low-level lipase identification and absolute quantification, which facilitated the investigation of polysorbate degradation and downstream purification improvement to further remove the problematic HCP. The current MRM method increased the sensitivity of HCP quantification by over 10-fold that in previously published studies, thus meeting the needs for quantification of problematic HCPs at sub-ppm to ppb levels during drug development. This workflow could be readily adapted to the detection and quantification of other problematic HCPs present at extremely low levels in therapeutic protein drug candidates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sook Yen E
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591-6707, USA
| | - Yunli Hu
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591-6707, USA.
| | - Rosalynn Molden
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591-6707, USA
| | - Haibo Qiu
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591-6707, USA.
| | - Ning Li
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591-6707, USA
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2
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Zhong X, Nayak S, Guo L, Raidas S, Zhao Y, Weiss R, Andisik M, Elango C, Sumner G, Irvin SC, Partridge MA, Yan H, E SY, Qiu H, Mao Y, Torri A, Li N. Liquid Chromatography-Multiple Reaction Monitoring-Mass Spectrometry Assay for Quantitative Measurement of Therapeutic Antibody Cocktail REGEN-COV Concentrations in COVID-19 Patient Serum. Anal Chem 2021; 93:12889-12898. [PMID: 34463470 PMCID: PMC8425334 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c01613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
REGEN-COV is a cocktail of two human IgG1 monoclonal antibodies (REGN10933 + REGN10987) that targets severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein and has shown great promise to reduce the SARS-CoV-2 viral load in COVID-19 patients enrolled in clinical studies. A liquid chromatography-multiple reaction monitoring-mass spectrometry (LC-MRM-MS)-based method, combined with trypsin and rAspN dual enzymatic digestion, was developed for the determination of total REGN10933 and total REGN10987 concentrations in several hundreds of pharmacokinetic (PK) serum samples from COVID-19 patients participating in phase I, II, and III clinical studies. The performance characteristics of this bioanalytical assay were evaluated with respect to linearity, accuracy, precision, selectivity, specificity, and analyte stability before and after enzymatic digestion. The developed LC-MRM-MS assay has a dynamic range from 10 to 2000 μg/mL antibody drug in the human serum matrix, which was able to cover the serum drug concentration from day 0 to day 28 after drug administration in two-dose groups for the clinical PK study of REGEN-COV. The concentrations of REGEN-COV in the two-dose groups measured by the LC-MRM-MS assay were comparable to the concentrations measured by a fully validated electrochemiluminescence (ECL) immunoassay.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuefei Zhong
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Shruti Nayak
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Lili Guo
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Shivkumar Raidas
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Yunlong Zhao
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Rachel Weiss
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Matthew Andisik
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Chinnasamy Elango
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Giane Sumner
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Susan C. Irvin
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Michael A. Partridge
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Hong Yan
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Sook Yen E
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Haibo Qiu
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Yuan Mao
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Albert Torri
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
| | - Ning Li
- Analytical Chemistry, Bioanalytical
Sciences, and Pharmacometrics, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, New York 10591-6707,
United States
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3
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Molden R, Hu M, Yen E S, Saggese D, Reilly J, Mattila J, Qiu H, Chen G, Bak H, Li N. Host cell protein profiling of commercial therapeutic protein drugs as a benchmark for monoclonal antibody-based therapeutic protein development. MAbs 2021; 13:1955811. [PMID: 34365906 PMCID: PMC8354607 DOI: 10.1080/19420862.2021.1955811] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2021] [Revised: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 07/12/2021] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Therapeutic proteins including monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are usually produced in engineered host cell lines that also produce thousands of endogenous proteins at varying levels. A critical aspect of the development of biotherapeutics manufacturing processes is the removal of these host cell proteins (HCP) to appropriate levels in order to minimize risk to patient safety and drug efficacy. During the development process and associated analytical characterization, mass spectrometry (MS) has become an increasingly popular tool for HCP analysis due to its ability to provide both relative abundance and identity of individual HCP and because the method does not rely on polyclonal antibodies, which are used in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. In this study, HCP from 29 commercially marketed mAb and mAb-based therapeutics were profiled using liquid chromatography (LC)-MS/MS with the identification and relative quantification of 79 individual HCP in total. Excluding an outlier drug, the relative levels of individual HCP determined in the approved therapeutics were generally low, with an average of 20 ppm (µmol HCP/mol drug) measured by LC-MS/MS, and only a few (<7 in average) HCP were identified in each drug analyzed. From this analysis, we also gained knowledge about which HCP are frequently identified in mAb-based products and their typical levels relative to the drugs for the identified individual HCP. In addition, we examined HCP composition from antibodies produced in house and found our current development process brings HCP to levels that are consistent with marketed drugs. Finally, we described a specific case to demonstrate how the HCP information from commercially marketed drugs could inform future HCP analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rosalynn Molden
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Mengqi Hu
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Sook Yen E
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Diana Saggese
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - James Reilly
- Preclinical Manufacturing and Process Development, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - John Mattila
- Preclinical Manufacturing and Process Development, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Haibo Qiu
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Gang Chen
- Protein Expression Sciences, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Hanne Bak
- Preclinical Manufacturing and Process Development, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Ning Li
- Analytical Chemistry, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc, Tarrytown, New York, USA
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Cruz JW, Damko E, Modi B, Tu N, Meagher K, Voronina V, Gartner H, Ehrlich G, Rafique A, Babb R, Aneja P, Potocky TB, D' Orvilliers A, Coppi A, E SY, Qiu H, Williams CM, Bennett BL, Chen G, Macdonald L, Olson W, Lin JC, Stahl N, Murphy AJ, Kyratsous CA, Prasad BC. A novel bispecific antibody platform to direct complement activity for efficient lysis of target cells. Sci Rep 2019; 9:12031. [PMID: 31427700 PMCID: PMC6700171 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-48461-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [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: 02/27/2019] [Accepted: 08/05/2019] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Harnessing complement-mediated cytotoxicity by therapeutic antibodies has been limited because of dependency on size and density of antigen, structural constraints resulting from orientation of antibody binding, and blockade of complement activation by inhibitors expressed on target cells. We developed a modular bispecific antibody platform that directs the complement-initiating protein C1q to target cells, increases local complement deposition and induces cytotoxicity against target antigens with a wide-range of expression. The broad utility of this approach to eliminate both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells was demonstrated by pairing a unique C1q-recruiting arm with multiple targeting arms specific for Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, B-cells and T-cells, indicating applicability for diverse indications ranging from infectious diseases to cancer. Generation of C1q humanized mice allowed for demonstration of the efficacy of this approach to clear disease-inducing cells in vivo. In summary, we present a novel, broadly applicable, and versatile therapeutic modality for targeted cell depletion.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Bhavika Modi
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - Naxin Tu
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | | | - Vera Voronina
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - Hans Gartner
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - George Ehrlich
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | | | - Robert Babb
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - Priya Aneja
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | | | | | - Alida Coppi
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - Sook Yen E
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - Haibo Qiu
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | | | | | - Gang Chen
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - Lynn Macdonald
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - William Olson
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - John C Lin
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
| | - Neil Stahl
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
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5
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Hamuro Y, E SY. Determination of Backbone Amide Hydrogen Exchange Rates of Cytochrome c Using Partially Scrambled Electron Transfer Dissociation Data. J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2018; 29:989-1001. [PMID: 29500740 DOI: 10.1007/s13361-018-1892-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2017] [Revised: 01/08/2018] [Accepted: 01/08/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The technological goal of hydrogen/deuterium exchange-mass spectrometry (HDX-MS) is to determine backbone amide hydrogen exchange rates. The most critical challenge to achieve this goal is obtaining the deuterium incorporation in single-amide resolution, and gas-phase fragmentation may provide a universal solution. The gas-phase fragmentation may generate the daughter ions which differ by a single amino acid and the difference in deuterium incorporations in the two analogous ions can yield the deuterium incorporation at the sub-localized site. Following the pioneering works by Jørgensen and Rand, several papers utilized the electron transfer dissociation (ETD) to determine the location of deuterium in single-amide resolution. This paper demonstrates further advancement of the strategy by determining backbone amide hydrogen exchange rates, instead of just determining deuterium incorporation at a single time point, in combination with a wide time window monitoring. A method to evaluate the effects of scrambling and to determine the exchange rates from partially scrambled HDX-ETD-MS data is described. All parent ions for ETD fragmentation were regio-selectively scrambled: The deuterium in some regions of a peptide ion was scrambled while that in the other regions was not scrambled. The method determined 31 backbone amide hydrogen exchange rates of cytochrome c in the non-scrambled regions. Good fragmentation of a parent ion, a low degree of scrambling, and a low number of exchangeable hydrogens in the preceding side chain are the important factors to determine the exchange rate. The exchange rates determined by the HDX-MS are in good agreement with those determined by NMR. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshitomo Hamuro
- ExSAR Corporation, 11 Deer Park Drive, Suite 103, Monmouth Junction, NJ, 08852, USA.
- SGS Life North America, 606 Brandywine Parkway, West Chester, PA, 19380, USA.
| | - Sook Yen E
- ExSAR Corporation, 11 Deer Park Drive, Suite 103, Monmouth Junction, NJ, 08852, USA
- Regeneron, 777 Old Saw Mill River Road, Tarrytown, NY, 10591, USA
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Hubbard BP, Gomes AP, Dai H, Li J, Case AW, Considine T, Riera TV, Lee JE, E SY, Lamming DW, Pentelute BL, Schuman ER, Stevens LA, Ling AJY, Armour SM, Michan S, Zhao H, Jiang Y, Sweitzer SM, Blum CA, Disch JS, Ng PY, Howitz KT, Rolo AP, Hamuro Y, Moss J, Perni RB, Ellis JL, Vlasuk GP, Sinclair DA. Evidence for a common mechanism of SIRT1 regulation by allosteric activators. Science 2013; 339:1216-9. [PMID: 23471411 DOI: 10.1126/science.1231097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 466] [Impact Index Per Article: 42.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
A molecule that treats multiple age-related diseases would have a major impact on global health and economics. The SIRT1 deacetylase has drawn attention in this regard as a target for drug design. Yet controversy exists around the mechanism of sirtuin-activating compounds (STACs). We found that specific hydrophobic motifs found in SIRT1 substrates such as PGC-1α and FOXO3a facilitate SIRT1 activation by STACs. A single amino acid in SIRT1, Glu(230), located in a structured N-terminal domain, was critical for activation by all previously reported STAC scaffolds and a new class of chemically distinct activators. In primary cells reconstituted with activation-defective SIRT1, the metabolic effects of STACs were blocked. Thus, SIRT1 can be directly activated through an allosteric mechanism common to chemically diverse STACs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Basil P Hubbard
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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Coales SJ, E SY, Lee JE, Ma A, Morrow JA, Hamuro Y. Expansion of time window for mass spectrometric measurement of amide hydrogen/deuterium exchange reactions. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 2010; 24:3585-3592. [PMID: 21108306 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.4814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
Backbone amide hydrogen exchange rates can be used to describe the dynamic properties of a protein. Amide hydrogen exchange rates in a native protein may vary from milliseconds (ms) to several years. Ideally, the rates of all amide hydrogens of the analyte protein can be determined individually. To achieve this goal, monitoring of a wider time window is critical, in addition to high sequence coverage and high sequence resolution. Significant improvements have been made to hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry methods in the past decade for better sequence coverage and higher sequence resolution. On the other hand, little effort has been made to expand the experimental time window to accurately determine exchange rates of amide hydrogens. Many fast exchanging amide hydrogens are completely exchanged before completion of a typical short exchange time point (10-30 s) and many slow exchanging amide hydrogens do not start exchanging before a typical long exchanging time point (1-3 h). Here various experimental conditions, as well as a quenched-flow apparatus, are utilized to monitor cytochrome c amide hydrogen exchange behaviors over more than eight orders of magnitude (0.0044-1 000 000 s), when converted into the standard exchange condition (pH 7 and 23°C).
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen J Coales
- ExSAR Corporation, 11 Deer Park Drive, Suite 103, Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852, USA
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