Profiling antibody drug conjugate positional isomers: a system-of-equations approach.

Antibody drug conjugates enable the targeted delivery of potent chemotherapeutic agents directly to cancerous cells. They are made by the chemical conjugation of cytotoxins to monoclonal antibodies, which can be achieved by first reducing interchain disulfide bonds followed by conjugation of the resulting free thiols with drugs. This process yields a controlled, but heterogeneous, population of conjugated products that contains species with various numbers of drugs linked to different former interchain disulfide cysteine residues on the antibodies. We have developed a mathematical approach using inputs from capillary electrophoresis and hydrophobic interaction chromatography to determine the positional isomer distribution within a population of antibody drug conjugates. The results are confirmed by analyzing isolated samples of specific drug-to-antibody ratio species. The procedure is amenable to rapid determination of positional isomer distributions and features low material requirements. A survey of several antibody drug conjugates based on the same IgG framework and small molecule drug combination has shown a very similar distribution of isomers among all of the molecules using this technique, suggesting a robust conjugation process.

Culture temperature modulates aggregation of recombinant antibody in cho cells.

During production of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAb), it is highly desirable to remove and control antibody aggregates in the manufacturing process to minimize the potential risk of immunogenicity to patients. During process development for the production of a recombinant IgG in a CHO cell line, we observed atypical high variability from 1 to 20% mAb aggregates formed during cell culture that negatively impacted antibody purification. Analytical characterization revealed the IgG aggregates were mediated by hydrophobic interactions likely caused by misfolded antibody during intracellular processing. Strikingly, data analysis showed an inverse correlation of lower cell culture temperature producing higher aggregate levels. All cultures at 37°C exhibited ≤ 5% aggregates at harvest. Aggregate levels increased 4-12-fold in 33°C cultures when compared to 37°C, with a corresponding 2-4-fold increase in heavy chain (HC) and light chain (LC) mRNA. Additionally, 37°C cases showed a greater excess of LC to HC mRNA levels. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) chaperone expression and ER size also increased 25-75% at 33°C versus 37°C but to a lesser extent than LC and HC mRNA, consistent with a potential limiting ER folding capacity at 33°C for this cell line. Finally, we identified a 2-5-fold increase in mAb aggregate formation at 33°C compared to 37°C cultures for three additional CHO cell lines. Taken together, our observations indicate that low culture temperature can increase antibody aggregate formation in CHO cells by increasing LC and HC transcripts coupled with limited ER machinery.

Effect of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, and hydrolysate on the formation of triple light chain antibodies in cell culture.

THIOMABs are recombinant antibodies with reactive cysteine residues used for forming THIOMAB-drug conjugates (TDCs). We recently reported a new impurity associated with THIOMABs: one of the engineered cysteines forms a disulfide bond with an extra light chain (LC) to generate a triple light chain antibody (3LC). In our previous investigations, increased LC expression increased 3LC levels, whereas increased glutathione (GSH) production decreased 3LC levels. In this work, on three stably transfected CHO cell lines, we investigated the effects of temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and hydrolysate on 3LC formation during THIOMAB fed-batch cell culture production. Although pH between 6.8 and 7.0 had no significant impact on 3LC formation, temperature at 35°C instead of 33 or 31°C generated the lowest 3LC values for two cell lines. The decreased 3LC level correlated with increased GSH production. We implemented a 35°C temperature process for large-scale (2,000 L) production of a THIOMAB. This process reduced 3LC levels by ∼50% compared with a 33°C temperature process. By contrast, DO and hydrolysate had modest effect on 3LC levels for the model cell line studied. Overall, we did not find significant changes in LC expression under the conditions tested, whereas changes in GSH production were more evident. By investigating the impact of bioreactor process and medium conditions on 3LC levels, we identified strategies that reduced 3LC levels.

Triple light chain antibodies: factors that influence its formation in cell culture.

THIOMABs are recombinant antibodies engineered with reactive cysteines, which can be covalently conjugated to drugs of interest to generate targeted therapeutics. During the analysis of THIOMABs secreted by stably transfected Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells, we discovered the existence of a new species--Triple Light Chain Antibody (3LC). This 3LC species is the product of a disulfide bond formed between an extra light chain and one of the engineered cysteines on the THIOMAB. We characterized the 3LC by size exclusion chromatography, mass spectrometry, and microchip electrophoresis. We also investigated the potential causes of 3LC formation during cell culture, focusing on the effects of free light chain (LC) polypeptide concentration, THIOMAB amino acid sequence, and glutathione (GSH) production. In studies covering 12 THIOMABs produced by 66 stable cell lines, increased free LC polypeptide expression--evaluated as the ratio of mRNA encoding for LC to the mRNA encoding for heavy chain (HC)--correlated with increased 3LC levels. The amino acid sequence of the THIOMAB molecule also impacted its susceptibility to 3LC formation: hydrophilic LC polypeptides showed elevated 3LC levels. Finally, increased GSH production--evaluated as the ratio of the cell-specific production rate of GSH (q(GSH)) to the cell-specific production rate of THIOMAB (q(p))--corresponded to decreased 3LC levels. In time-lapse studies, changes in extracellular 3LC levels during cell culture corresponded to changes in mRNA LC/HC ratio and q(GSH)/q(p) ratio. In summary, we found that cell lines with low mRNA LC/HC ratio and high q(GSH)/q(p) ratio yielded the lowest levels of 3LC. These findings provide us with factors to consider in selecting a cell line to produce THIOMABs with minimal levels of the 3LC impurity.

Reversible self-association increases the viscosity of a concentrated monoclonal antibody in aqueous solution.

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of reversible protein self-association on the viscosity of concentrated monoclonal antibody solutions. The viscosities of the monoclonal antibody solutions were measured by either a capillary viscometer or a cone-plate rheometer at different protein concentrations, pH, and ionic strength. Soluble aggregates were determined by size exclusion chromatography, light scattering, and analytical ultracentrifugation. Self-association of protein at high protein concentration was monitored by sedimentation equilibrium analysis using a preparative ultracentrifuge and a microfractionator. The viscosity of one of the monoclonal antibodies investigated is highly dependent on protein concentration, pH, and ionic strength of buffer and charged excipients. This antibody shows the highest viscosity near its pI at low ionic strength conditions. Sedimentation equilibrium analysis suggests that this antibody tends to reversibly self-associate at high protein concentration. The self-association appears to be quite weak and is not detectable by sedimentation velocity and size exclusion chromatography at low protein concentration. There are no significant differences in the amounts of non-dissociable soluble aggregates formed between low viscosity and high viscosity samples. These results suggest that the reversible multivalent self-association of this protein appears to be mediated mainly by electrostatic interactions of charged residues and results in unusually high viscosity of this monoclonal antibody in solution at low ionic strength conditions.