Multiproduct high-resolution monoclonal antibody charge variant separations by pH gradient ion-exchange chromatography.

In the biotechnology industry, ion-exchange chromatography is widely used for profiling the charge heterogeneity of proteins, including monoclonal antibodies. Ionic strength based ion exchange separations, while having excellent resolving power and robustness, are product specific and time-consuming to develop. In the present work, a pH gradient based separation using a cation exchange column is described and shown to be a multiproduct charge sensitive separation method for monoclonal antibodies. Simple mixtures of defined buffer components were used to generate the pH-gradients that separate closely related antibody species. The form of the pH gradient was controlled and optimized by the pump as well as the buffer composition if necessary. During this work, the buffer compositions for the separation were optimized in parallel for several MAbs. The data shows that the multiproduct method is optimal for all of the MAbs studied. Operational aspects of the separation such as column chemistry, column length, and sample matrix indicate a very robust method. The pH gradient ion-exchange method is demonstrated to have significant resolving power and peak capacities far in excess of what we would expect for ionic strength elution ion-exchange. Data obtained demonstrates that the separation is relatively insensitive to column length. Direct analysis (no buffer exchange) of samples in matrixes consistent with in-process manufacturing pools is demonstrated. Such a capability is extremely useful for the high throughput evaluation of in-process and final product samples.

Capillary size exclusion chromatography with picogram sensitivity for analysis of monoclonal antibodies purified from harvested cell culture fluid.

Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) is widely used in the characterization and quality control of therapeutic proteins to detect aggregates. Aggregation is a carefully monitored quality attribute from the earliest stages of clinical development owing to the possibility of eliciting an immunogenic response in the patient. During early stage molecule assessment for cell culture production, small-scale screening experiments are performed to permit rapid turn-around of results so as to not delay timelines. We report the development of a capillary SEC methodology for preliminary molecule assessment to support the evaluation of therapeutic candidates at an early stage of development. By making several key modifications to a commercially available liquid chromatography system, we demonstrate a platform process to perform capillary SEC with excellent precision, picogram sensitivity and good ruggedness. The limit of quantitation was determined to be approximately 15 pg; picogram sensitivity for SEC analysis of monoclonal antibodies had not been achieved prior to this work. In addition, we have developed a method to capture low levels of antibody (1 µg/mL) from harvested cell culture fluid (HCCF) for capillary SEC analysis. Up to 40% recovery efficiency was achieved using this micro-recovery method on 3 mL HCCF samples. Using early stage cell culture transient transfection samples, which typically have much lower titers than stable cell line samples, we demonstrate a consistent method for analyzing aggregates in low protein concentration HCCF samples for molecule assessment and early stage candidate screening.

Validation of a pH gradient-based ion-exchange chromatography method for high-resolution monoclonal antibody charge variant separations.

Ion-exchange chromatography is widely used for profiling the charge heterogeneity of proteins, including monoclonal antibodies. Despite good resolving power and robustness, ionic strength-based ion-exchange separations are product-specific and time-consuming to develop. We have previously reported a novel pH-based separation of proteins by cation exchange chromatography that was multi-product, high-resolution, and robust against variations in sample matrix salt concentration and pH. In this study, a pH gradient-based separation method using cation exchange chromatography was evaluated in a mock validation. This method was shown to be robust for monoclonal antibodies and suitable for its intended purpose of charge heterogeneity analysis. Simple mixtures of defined buffer components were used to generate the pH gradients that separated closely related antibody species. Validation characteristics, such as precision and linearity, were evaluated. Robustness to changes in protein load, buffer pH and column oven temperature was demonstrated. The stability-indicating capability of this method was determined using thermally stressed antibody samples. In addition, intermediate precision was demonstrated using multiple instruments, multiple analysts, multiple column lots, and different column manufacturers. Finally, the precision for this method was compared to conventional ion-exchange chromatography and imaged capillary isoelectric focusing. These results demonstrate the superior precision and robustness of this multi-product method, which can be used for the high-throughput evaluation of in-process and final product samples.

Proteomic studies support the use of multi-product immunoassays to monitor host cell protein impurities.

In the biopharmaceutical industry, recombinant protein drugs are commonly produced in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. During the development process, removal of CHO cell-derived proteins from the biopharmaceutical product is monitored using multi-product immunoassays. Such immunoassays are developed by raising antibodies to a single CHO cell protein preparation. However, these assays are utilized to monitor CHO cell protein impurities during the recovery of products from different CHO cell lines. To address whether underlying differences between CHO cell lines result in sufficient protein expression changes to exclude the suitability of multi-product immunoassays, a comparative proteomics study of three independently generated CHO cell lines was performed. Statistical analysis of over 1000 proteins resolved by 2-D PAGE demonstrated that the protein expression profiles of three different CHO cell lines exhibit very few differences in protein expression. Only 11 qualitative changes in protein expression and 26 quantitative changes greater than two-fold were observed. Identification of protein spots by mass spectrometry revealed that many of the observed changes were due to post-translational modifications rather than expression of novel proteins in each cell line. These results suggest that multi-product immunoassays are suitable for monitoring host cell proteins in biopharmaceuticals produced in different CHO cell lines.

Comparison of the Escherichia coli proteomes for recombinant human growth hormone producing and nonproducing fermentations.

Two-dimensional electrophoretic analyses of Escherichia coli cells producing recombinant human growth hormone (Nutropin) in fermentations were conducted. The resulting two-dimensional protein profiles were compared with those of nonproducing (blank) cells. A qualitative comparison was performed to address regulatory issues in the biopharmaceutical industry, and a semiquantitative comparison was performed to reveal information about the physiological state of the cells. The protein spots unique to production fermentation profiles were all related to recombinant human growth hormone (hGH); these included intact hGH, charge variants of hGH, and a proteolytically cleaved form of hGH, as expected. There were no E. coli host cell proteins unique to either the production or blank fermentation profiles. Rather, all detectable differences in E. coli proteins were quantitative in nature. Specifically, the levels of IbpA (inclusion body binding protein A), Ivy (inhibitor of vertebrate lysozyme), and a cleaved form of GroEL (Hsp60 homolog) were higher in hGH production profiles, whereas the levels of GlmU protein and PspA (phage shock protein A) were higher in blank profiles. In general, the high degree of similarity between proteomes for hGH-producing and nonproducing cells suggests that E. coli proteins from a nonproducing (blank) fermentation are appropriate for eliciting antibodies that are then used in immunoassays to measure host cell proteins in samples from production fermentations.