1
|
Wang X, Ingavat N, Liew JM, Dzulkiflie N, Loh HP, Kok YJ, Bi X, Yang Y, Zhang W. Effects of molecule hydrophobicity and structural flexibility of appended bispecific antibody on Protein A chromatography. J Chromatogr A 2024; 1731:465206. [PMID: 39053253 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2024.465206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2024] [Revised: 07/12/2024] [Accepted: 07/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
Appended bispecific antibody (aBsAb) with two single chain variable fragments (scFv) linked at the c-terminus of its heavy chains is one of the promising formats in bispecific therapeutics. The presence of hydrophobic and flexible scFv fragments render aBsAb molecules higher molecule hydrophobicity and structural flexibility compared to monoclonal antibody (mAb), thus making its purification more challenging. We set out to investigate how the unique molecular properties of aBsAb affect its performance on Protein A chromatography. We showed that aBsAb has a high propensity for chromatography-induced aggregation due to its high molecule hydrophobicity, and this couldn't be improved by the addition of common chaotropic salts. Moreover, the presence of chaotropic salts, such as arginine hydrochloride (Arg-HCl), retarded aBsAb elution during Protein A chromatography rather than facilitating which was widely observed in mAb Protein A elution. Nevertheless, we were able to overcome the aggregation issue by optimizing elution condition and improved aBsAb purity from 29 % to 93 % in Protein A eluate with a high molecular weight (HMW) species of less than 5 %. We also showed that the high molecular flexibility of aBsAb leads to different hydrodynamic sizes of the aBsAb molecule post Protein A elution, neutralization, and re-acidification, which are pH dependent. This is different from mAbs where their sizes do not change post neutralization even with re-exposure to acid. The above unique observations of aBsAb in Protein A chromatography were clearly explained from the perspectives of its high molecular hydrophobicity and structural flexibility.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinhui Wang
- Downstream Processing, Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Nattha Ingavat
- Downstream Processing, Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Jia Min Liew
- Downstream Processing, Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Nuruljannah Dzulkiflie
- Downstream Processing, Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Han Ping Loh
- Cell Line Development, Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Yee Jiun Kok
- Analytical Science & Technology (Protein Analytics), Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Xuezhi Bi
- Analytical Science & Technology (Protein Analytics), Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Yuansheng Yang
- Cell Line Development, Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Wei Zhang
- Downstream Processing, Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), 20 Biopolis Way, #06-01 Centros, Singapore 138668, Singapore.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wolnick NQ, Dickson MR, Webster TA, Connolly RP, Fernandes N, Encheva V, Crittenden H, Hodgkins J, Hadley BC, Palermo G, Hendrick SJ, Newell RA, Gray G, Siltanen C, Armstrong J, Downey BJ, Mason C. Impact of fed-batch process intensification on the productivity and product quality of two CHO cell lines expressing unique novel molecular format proteins. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 2024; 47:1227-1240. [PMID: 38653840 PMCID: PMC11269418 DOI: 10.1007/s00449-024-02997-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/25/2024]
Abstract
While monospecific antibodies have long been the foundational offering of protein therapeutics, recent advancements in antibody engineering have allowed for the development of far more complex antibody structures. Novel molecular format (NMF) proteins, such as bispecific antibodies (BsAbs), are structures capable of multispecific binding, allowing for expanded therapeutic functionality. As demand for NMF proteins continues to rise, biomanufacturers face the challenge of increasing bioreactor process productivity while simultaneously maintaining consistent product quality. This challenge is exacerbated when producing structurally complex proteins with asymmetric modalities, as seen in NMFs. In this study, the impact of a high inoculation density (HID) fed-batch process on the productivity and product quality attributes of two CHO cell lines expressing unique NMFs, a monospecific antibody with an Fc-fusion protein and a bispecific antibody, compared to low inoculation density (LID) platform fed-batch processes was evaluated. It was observed that an intensified platform fed-batch process increased product concentrations by 33 and 109% for the two uniquely structured complex proteins in a shorter culture duration while maintaining similar product quality attributes to traditional fed-batch processes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Nancy Fernandes
- Research and Development, Lonza Biologics, Portsmouth, NH, USA
| | | | | | | | - Brian C Hadley
- Research and Development, Lonza Biologics, Portsmouth, NH, USA
| | | | | | - Roy A Newell
- Research and Development, Lonza Biologics, Portsmouth, NH, USA
| | - Genevieve Gray
- Research and Development, Lonza Biologics, Portsmouth, NH, USA
| | | | | | | | - Carrie Mason
- Research and Development, Lonza Biologics, Portsmouth, NH, USA
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Koehnlein W, Kastenmueller E, Meier T, Treu T, Falkenstein R. The beneficial impact of kosmotropic salts on the resolution and selectivity of Protein A chromatography. J Chromatogr A 2024; 1715:464585. [PMID: 38183781 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2023.464585] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/15/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
During the manufacturing of therapeutic antibodies, effective Protein A chromatography as initial column step is crucial to simplify the remaining purification effort for subsequent polishing steps. This is particularly relevant for molecules with high impurity content so that desired product purity can be attained. The present study demonstrates beneficial effects on impurity removal when applying kosmotropic salts, e.g., sodium sulfate or sodium chloride, in the elution phase. Initially, a screen using negative linear pH gradient elution evaluated the impact of the kosmotropic salts in comparison to no additive and chaotropic urea using three mAbs and three common resins. Retaining acceptable yield, the kosmotropic salts improved resolution of monomer and impurities and reduced the contents of process-related host cell proteins and DNA as well as of product-related low and high molecular weight forms, despite some resin- and mAb-dependent variations. Moreover, a decrease in hydrolytic activity measured by a new assay for polysorbase activity was observed. In contrast, urea was hardly effective. The findings served to establish optimized step elution conditions with 0.25 M of sodium sulfate for a challenging mAb with complex format (bispecific 2 + 1 CrossMab) displaying high relative hydrophobicity and impurity levels. With yield and purity both in the range of 90 %, the contents of all impurity components were reduced, e.g., low molecular weight forms by two-fold and polysorbase activity by four-fold. The study indicates the potential of kosmotropic salts to establish efficient and comprehensive impurity separation by Protein A for facilitated downstream processing and economic manufacturing of complex antibodies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Tobias Meier
- Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Nonnenwald 2, Penzberg 82377, Germany
| | - Tabea Treu
- Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Nonnenwald 2, Penzberg 82377, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Madsen AV, Pedersen LE, Kristensen P, Goletz S. Design and engineering of bispecific antibodies: insights and practical considerations. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2024; 12:1352014. [PMID: 38333084 PMCID: PMC10850309 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1352014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Bispecific antibodies (bsAbs) have attracted significant attention due to their dual binding activity, which permits simultaneous targeting of antigens and synergistic binding effects beyond what can be obtained even with combinations of conventional monospecific antibodies. Despite the tremendous therapeutic potential, the design and construction of bsAbs are often hampered by practical issues arising from the increased structural complexity as compared to conventional monospecific antibodies. The issues are diverse in nature, spanning from decreased biophysical stability from fusion of exogenous antigen-binding domains to antibody chain mispairing leading to formation of antibody-related impurities that are very difficult to remove. The added complexity requires judicious design considerations as well as extensive molecular engineering to ensure formation of high quality bsAbs with the intended mode of action and favorable drug-like qualities. In this review, we highlight and summarize some of the key considerations in design of bsAbs as well as state-of-the-art engineering principles that can be applied in efficient construction of bsAbs with diverse molecular formats.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andreas V. Madsen
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Lasse E. Pedersen
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| | - Peter Kristensen
- Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
| | - Steffen Goletz
- Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Wachter S, Angevin T, Bubna N, Tan A, Cichy A, Brown D, Wolfe LS, Sappington R, Lilla E, Berry L, Grismer D, Orth C, Blanusa M, Mostafa S, Kaufmann H, Felderer K. Application of platform process development approaches to the manufacturing of Mabcalin™ bispecifics. J Biotechnol 2023; 377:13-22. [PMID: 37820750 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiotec.2023.10.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
Bispecific biotherapeutics offer potent and highly specific treatment options in oncology and immuno-oncology. However, many bispecific formats are prone to high levels of aggregation and instability, leading to prolonged development timelines, inefficient manufacturing, and high costs. The novel class of Mabcalin™ molecules consist of Anticalin® proteins fused to an IgG and are currently being evaluated in pre-clinical and clinical studies. Here, we describe a robust high-yield manufacturing platform for these therapeutic fusion proteins providing data up to commercially relevant scales. A platform upstream process was established for one of the Mabcalin bispecifics and then applied to other clinically relevant drug candidates with different IgG target specificities. Process performance was compared in 3 L bioreactors and production was scaled-up to up to 1000 L for confirmation. The Mabcalin proteins' structural and biophysical similarities enabled a downstream platform approach consisting of initial protein A capture, viral inactivation, mixed-mode anion exchange polishing, second polishing by cation exchange or hydrophobic interaction chromatography, viral filtration, buffer exchange and concentration by ultrafiltration/diafiltration. All three processes met their target specifications and achieved comparable clearance of impurities and product yields across scales. The described platform approach provides a fast and economic path to process confirmation and is well comparable to classical monoclonal antibody approaches in terms of costs and time to clinic.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stefanie Wachter
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany.
| | - Thibaut Angevin
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany
| | - Niket Bubna
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Adelene Tan
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany
| | - Adam Cichy
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany
| | - David Brown
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Leslie S Wolfe
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Ryan Sappington
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Edward Lilla
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Luke Berry
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Dane Grismer
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Christian Orth
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany
| | - Milan Blanusa
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany
| | - Sigma Mostafa
- KBI Biopharma, 4117 Emperor Blvd, Suite 200, Durham, NC 27703, USA
| | - Hitto Kaufmann
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany
| | - Karin Felderer
- Pieris Pharmaceuticals GmbH, Zeppelinstr. 3, Hallbergmoos 85399 Germany
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Waller JA, Zheng J, Dyer R, Slaney T, Wu W, Tao L, Ghose S. Ceramic hydroxyapatite chromatography plays a critical role in bispecific antibody purification process for impurity removal. Antib Ther 2023; 6:30-37. [PMID: 36683764 PMCID: PMC9847337 DOI: 10.1093/abt/tbac030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2022] [Revised: 10/31/2022] [Accepted: 11/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Significant challenges exist in downstream purification of bispecific antibodies (BsAbs) due to the complexity of BsAb architecture. A unique panel of mispaired species can result in a higher level of product-related impurities. In addition to process-related impurities such as host cell proteins (HCPs) and residual DNA (resDNA), these product-related impurities must be separated from the targeted BsAb product to achieve high purity. Therefore, development of an efficient and robust chromatography purification process is essential to ensure the safety, quality, purity and efficacy of BsAb products that consequently meet regulatory requirements for clinical trials and commercialization. Methods We have developed a robust downstream BsAb process consisting of a mixed-mode ceramic hydroxyapatite (CHT) chromatography step, which offers unique separation capabilities tailored to BsAbs, and assessed impurity clearance. Results We demonstrate that the CHT chromatography column provides additional clearance of low molecular weight (LMW) and high molecular weight (HMW) species that cannot be separated by other chromatography columns such as ion exchange for a particular BsAb, resulting in ≥98% CE-SDS (non-reduced) purity. Moreover, through Polysorbate-80 (PS-80) spiking and LC-MS HCP assessments, we reveal complete clearance of potential PS-80-degrading HCP populations in the CHT eluate product pool. Conclusions In summary, these results demonstrate that CHT mixed-mode chromatography plays an important role in separation of product- and process-related impurities in the BsAb downstream process.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jessica A Waller
- Biologics Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, Summit, NJ 07901 USA
| | - Ji Zheng
- Biologics Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, Summit, NJ 07901 USA
| | - Rachel Dyer
- Biologics Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, Devens, MA 01434 USA
| | - Thomas Slaney
- Biologics Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA
| | - Wei Wu
- Biologics Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA
| | - Li Tao
- Biologics Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, New Brunswick, NJ 08901 USA
| | - Sanchayita Ghose
- Biologics Development, Bristol Myers Squibb, Devens, MA 01434 USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Optimization for Simultaneous Removal of Product/Process-Related Impurities of Peptide Fc-Fusion Protein Using Cation Exchange Chromatography. Processes (Basel) 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/pr10112359] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Fc fusion proteins are used as therapeutic agents with unique structures by combining the Fc domain of an antibody with other active proteins, cytokines, and enzymes. Peptide Fc-fusion proteins are complex fusion molecules that possess a structure different from that of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and are difficult to express, thereby affecting their quality. Many product/process-related impurities generated during the production of peptide Fc-fusion proteins pose a risk to the robustness of pre-existing three-column platforms for the purification of mAbs. Thus, we first evaluated the effect of pH, conductivity, and dynamic binding capacity (DBC; g of product per liter of resin) on the separation of host cell protein (HCP) and high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) proteins in strong cation exchange chromatography and then established an operating range using the design of experiments (DoE). Based on our studies, the optimal removal rates of HCP and HMW were achieved under the following conditions: 8 CV of wash buffer, 20–23 g/L of resin DBC, and an elution buffer conductivity of 63–66 mS/cm. The conductivity of the wash buffer used to remove the LMW was 50 mS/cm. In addition, reproducibility was confirmed by scaling up two batches using the Fractogel® EMD SO3− (M) resin. As a result of confirming with a validated test method in all batches, >55% yield, >98.2% purity, and >27% HCP reduction rate were satisfied. The cation exchanger exhibited an acceptable step yield and effectively reduced product/process-related impurities within the established range.
Collapse
|
8
|
Zhang W, Wang H, Feng N, Li Y, Gu J, Wang Z. Developability assessment at early-stage discovery to enable development of antibody-derived therapeutics. Antib Ther 2022; 6:13-29. [PMID: 36683767 PMCID: PMC9847343 DOI: 10.1093/abt/tbac029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Developability refers to the likelihood that an antibody candidate will become a manufacturable, safe and efficacious drug. Although the safety and efficacy of a drug candidate will be well considered by sponsors and regulatory agencies, developability in the narrow sense can be defined as the likelihood that an antibody candidate will go smoothly through the chemistry, manufacturing and control (CMC) process at a reasonable cost and within a reasonable timeline. Developability in this sense is the focus of this review. To lower the risk that an antibody candidate with poor developability will move to the CMC stage, the candidate's developability-related properties should be screened, assessed and optimized as early as possible. Assessment of developability at the early discovery stage should be performed in a rapid and high-throughput manner while consuming small amounts of testing materials. In addition to monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, multispecific antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates, as the derivatives of monoclonal antibodies, should also be assessed for developability. Moreover, we propose that the criterion of developability is relative: expected clinical indication, and the dosage and administration route of the antibody could affect this criterion. We also recommend a general screening process during the early discovery stage of antibody-derived therapeutics. With the advance of artificial intelligence-aided prediction of protein structures and features, computational tools can be used to predict, screen and optimize the developability of antibody candidates and greatly reduce the risk of moving a suboptimal candidate to the development stage.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Weijie Zhang
- Biologicals Innovation and Discovery, WuXi Biologicals, 1951 Huifeng West Road, Fengxian District, Shanghai 201400, China
| | - Hao Wang
- Biologicals Innovation and Discovery, WuXi Biologicals, 1951 Huifeng West Road, Fengxian District, Shanghai 201400, China
| | - Nan Feng
- Biologicals Innovation and Discovery, WuXi Biologicals, 1951 Huifeng West Road, Fengxian District, Shanghai 201400, China
| | - Yifeng Li
- Technology and Process Development, WuXi Biologicals, 288 Fute Zhong Road, Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, Shanghai 200131, China
| | - Jijie Gu
- Biologicals Innovation and Discovery, WuXi Biologicals, 1951 Huifeng West Road, Fengxian District, Shanghai 201400, China
| | - Zhuozhi Wang
- To whom correspondence should be addressed. Biologics Innovation and Discovery, WuXi Biologicals, 1951 Huifeng West Road, Fengxian District, Shanghai 201400, China, Phone number: +86-21-50518899
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Rezvani K, WuDunn D, Hunter AK, Aspelund MT. Leveraging light chain binding avidity for control of mispaired byproducts during production of asymmetric bispecific antibodies. J Chromatogr A 2022; 1683:463533. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2022.463533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2022] [Revised: 09/23/2022] [Accepted: 09/23/2022] [Indexed: 10/31/2022]
|
10
|
Chen SW, Hoi KM, Mahfut FB, Yang Y, Zhang W. Effective flow-through polishing strategies for knob-into-hole bispecific antibodies. BIORESOUR BIOPROCESS 2022; 9:98. [PMID: 38647877 PMCID: PMC10992779 DOI: 10.1186/s40643-022-00590-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Bispecific antibodies (bsAbs), though possessing great therapeutic potential, are extremely challenging to obtain at high purity within a limited number of scalable downstream processing steps. Complementary to Protein A chromatography, polishing strategies play a critical role at removing the remaining high molecular weight (HMW) and low molecular weight (LMW) species, as well as host cell proteins (HCP) in order to achieve a final product of high purity. Here, we demonstrate using two knob-into-hole (KiH) bsAb constructs that two flow-through polishing steps utilising Capto Butyl ImpRes and Capto adhere resins, performed after an optimal Protein A affinity chromatography step can further reduce the HCP by 17- to 35-fold as well as HMW and LMW species with respect to monomer by ~ 4-6% and ~ 1%, respectively, to meet therapeutical requirement at 30-60 mg/mL-resin (R) load. This complete flow-through polishing strategy, guided by Design of Experiments (DoE), eliminates undesirable aggregation problems associated with the higher aggregation propensity of scFv containing bsAbs that may occur in the bind and elute mode, offering an improved ease of overall process operation without additional elution buffer preparation and consumption, thus aligning well with process intensification efforts. Overall, we demonstrate that through the employment of (1) Protein A chromatography step and (2) flow-through polishing steps, a final product containing < 1% HMW species, < 1% LMW species and < 100 ppm HCP can be obtained with an overall process recovery of 56-87%.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Serene W Chen
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kong Meng Hoi
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Farouq Bin Mahfut
- Cell Line Development Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yuansheng Yang
- Cell Line Development Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Wei Zhang
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore.
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Chen SW, Hoi KM, Mahfut FB, Yang Y, Zhang W. Excellent removal of knob-into-hole bispecific antibody byproducts and impurities in a single-capture chromatography. BIORESOUR BIOPROCESS 2022; 9:72. [PMID: 38647639 PMCID: PMC10992212 DOI: 10.1186/s40643-022-00562-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 06/26/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Bispecific antibodies (bsAbs) are therapeutically promising due to their ability to bind to two different antigens. However, the bsAb byproducts and impurities, including mispaired homodimers, half-antibodies, light chain mispairings, antibody fragments and high levels of high molecular weight (HMW) species, all pose unique challenges to their downstream processing. Here, using two knob-into-hole (KiH) constructs of bsAbs as model molecules, we demonstrate the excellent removal of bsAb byproducts and impurities in a single Protein A chromatography under optimized conditions, including hole-hole homodimer mispaired products which are physicochemically very similar to the target bsAbs and still present even with the use of the KiH format, though at reduced levels. The removal occurs through the incorporation of an intermediate low-pH wash step and optimal elution conditions, achieving ~ 60% monomeric purity increase in a single Protein A step, without the introduction of sequence-specific bsAb modifications to specifically induce differential Protein A binding. Our results also suggest that the higher aggregation propensity of bsAbs may cause aggregation during the column process, hence an optimization of the appropriate loading amount, which may be lower than that of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), is required. With the use of loading at 50% of 10% breakthrough (QB10) at 6-min residence time, we show that an overall high monomer purity of 92.1-93.2% can be achieved with good recovery of 78.4-90.6% within one capture step, which is a significant improvement from a monomer purity of ~ 30% in the cell culture supernatant (CCS). The results presented here would be an insightful guidance to all researchers working on the purification process development to produce bispecific antibodies, especially for knob-into-hole bispecific antibodies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Serene W Chen
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Kong Meng Hoi
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Farouq Bin Mahfut
- Cell Line Development Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Yuansheng Yang
- Cell Line Development Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Wei Zhang
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore.
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Underwood DJ, Bettencourt J, Jawad Z. The manufacturing considerations of bispecific antibodies. Expert Opin Biol Ther 2022; 22:1043-1065. [PMID: 35771976 DOI: 10.1080/14712598.2022.2095900] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Antibody therapies have made huge strides in providing safe and efficacious drugs for autoimmune, cancer and infectious disease. These bispecific antibodies can be assembled from the basic building blocks of IgGs, resulting in dozens of formats. AREAS COVERED It is important to consider the manufacturability of these formats early in the antibody discovery phases. Broadly categorizing bispecific antibodies into IgG-like, fragment-based, appended and hybrid formats can help in looking at early manufacturability considerations. EXPERT OPINION Ideally, bispecific antibody manufacturing should contain a minimal number of steps, with processes that give high yields of protein with no contaminants. Many of these have been determined for the fragment-based bispecific blinatumomab and the IgG-like bispecifics from hybridomas. However, for new formats, these need to be considered early in the research and development pipeline. The hybrid formats offer an unusual alternative in generating high pure yields of bispecific molecules if the engineering challenges can be deciphered.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Zahra Jawad
- Agenus inc., 3 Forbes Road, Lexington, MA, 02421-7305, United States.,Creasallis ltd, Babraham Research Campus, Babraham, Cambridgeshire, CB22 3AT, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Kimerer LK, Pabst TM, Hunter AK, Carta G. Role of configurational flexibility on the adsorption kinetics of bivalent bispecific antibodies on porous cation exchange resins. J Chromatogr A 2021; 1655:462479. [PMID: 34461348 DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2021.462479] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2021] [Revised: 08/12/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The adsorption kinetics of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) used as a reference and of bivalent bispecific antibodies (BiSAb) on a macroporous cation exchanger is studied experimentally by examining the transient patterns of bound protein within the particles using confocal microscopy for a range of protein concentrations, buffer concentrations and pH, and temperatures. The mAb adsorption kinetics is controlled by pore diffusion and conforms to the classical shrinking core model. While the mAb adsorption rate increases with temperature, the ratio of effective and free solution diffusivity, De /D0, remains constant and has a value of 0.20. The BiSAb's structure is comprised of scFv domains that are genetically fused to a framework IgG through flexible peptide linkers which results in conformational flexibility leading to multiple binding forms with varying affinity for the adsorbent surface. As a result, adsorption of the BiSAbs shows complex patterns of total bound protein within the particles. These BiSAb adsorption patterns are influenced by buffer ionic strength, pH, and temperature in unique ways. Sharper intraparticle profiles are observed for conditions where the binding strength is greater (lower buffer concentration and/or pH) or when the protein is chemically crosslinked to restrict configurational flexibility. Temperature affects the BiSAb pore diffusivity as well as the interconversion kinetics. While the effects of temperature on BiSAb transport are also described by a constant De /D0 = 0.15, the temperature also affects the rate of interconversion between binding forms leading to faster equilibration at higher temperatures. A phenomenological model indicates that the interplay of pore diffusion and adsorption with the kinetically limited interconversion between binding forms is responsible for the experimental trends.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lucas K Kimerer
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Timothy M Pabst
- Purification Process Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals Development, AstraZeneca, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | - Alan K Hunter
- Purification Process Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals Development, AstraZeneca, Gaithersburg, MD, USA
| | - Giorgio Carta
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Factors affecting the quality of therapeutic proteins in recombinant Chinese hamster ovary cell culture. Biotechnol Adv 2021; 54:107831. [PMID: 34480988 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2021.107831] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2021] [Revised: 06/21/2021] [Accepted: 08/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the most widely used mammalian host cells for the commercial production of therapeutic proteins. Fed-batch culture is widely used to produce therapeutic proteins, including monoclonal antibodies, because of its operational simplicity and high product titer. Despite technical advances in the development of culture media and cell cultures, it is still challenging to maintain high productivity in fed-batch cultures while also ensuring good product quality. In this review, factors that affect the quality attributes of therapeutic proteins in recombinant CHO (rCHO) cell culture, such as glycosylation, charge variation, aggregation, and degradation, are summarized and categorized into three groups: culture environments, chemical additives, and host cell proteins accumulated in culture supernatants. Understanding the factors that influence the therapeutic protein quality in rCHO cell culture will facilitate the development of large-scale, high-yield fed-batch culture processes for the production of high-quality therapeutic proteins.
Collapse
|
15
|
Chen SW, Zhang W. Current trends and challenges in the downstream purification of bispecific antibodies. Antib Ther 2021; 4:73-88. [PMID: 34056544 PMCID: PMC8155696 DOI: 10.1093/abt/tbab007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Bispecific antibodies (bsAbs) represent a highly promising class of biotherapeutic modality. The downstream processing of this class of antibodies is therefore of crucial importance in ensuring that these products can be obtained with high purity and yield. Due to the various fundamental structural similarities between bsAbs and monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), many of the current bsAb downstream purification methodologies are based on the established purification processes of mAbs, where affinity, charge, size, hydrophobicity and mixed-mode-based purification are frequently employed. Nevertheless, the downstream processing of bsAbs presents a unique set of challenges due to the presence of bsAb-specific byproducts, such as mispaired products, undesired fragments and higher levels of aggregates, that are otherwise absent or present in lower levels in mAb cell culture supernatants, thus often requiring the design of additional purification strategies in order to obtain products of high purity. Here, we outline the current major purification methods of bsAbs, highlighting the corresponding solutions that have been proposed to circumvent the unique challenges presented by this class of antibodies, including differential affinity chromatography, sequential affinity chromatography and the use of salt additives and pH gradients or multistep elutions in various modes of purification. Finally, a perspective towards future process development is offered.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Serene W Chen
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| | - Wei Zhang
- Downstream Processing Group, Bioprocessing Technology Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore 138668, Singapore
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Chi B, De Oliveira G, Gallagher T, Mitchell L, Knightley L, Gonzalez CC, Russell S, Germaschewski V, Pearce C, Sellick CA. Pragmatic mAb lead molecule engineering from a developability perspective. Biotechnol Bioeng 2021; 118:3733-3743. [PMID: 33913507 DOI: 10.1002/bit.27802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 03/26/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
As the number of antibody drugs being approved and marketed increases, our knowledge of what makes potential drug candidates a successful product has increased tremendously. One of the critical parameters that have become clear in the field is the importance of mAb "developability." Efforts are being increasingly focused on simultaneously selecting molecules that exhibit both desirable biological potencies and manufacturability attributes. In the current study mutations to improve the developability profile of a problematic antibody that inconsistently precipitates in a batch scale-dependent fashion using a standard platform purification process are described. Initial bioinformatic analysis showed the molecule has no obvious sequence or structural liabilities that might lead it to precipitate. Subsequent analysis of the molecule revealed the presence of two unusual positively charged mutations on the light chain at the interface of VH and VL domains, which were hypothesized to be the primary contributor to molecule precipitation during process development. To investigate this hypothesis, straightforward reversion to the germline of these residues was carried out. The resulting mutants have improved expression titers and recovered stability within a forced precipitation assay, without any change to biological activity. Given the time pressures of drug development in industry, process optimization of the lead molecule was carried out in parallel to the "retrospective" mutagenesis approach. Bespoke process optimization for large-scale manufacturing was successful. However, we propose that such context-dependent sequence liabilities should be included in the arsenal of in silico developability screening early in development; particularly since this specific issue can be efficiently mitigated without the requirement for extensive screening of lead molecule variants.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Tom Gallagher
- Kymab Ltd., Cambridge, UK.,F-star Therapeutics Ltd., Cambridge, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
17
|
Gomez N, Lull J, Yang X, Wang Y, Zhang X, Wieczorek A, Harrahy J, Pritchard M, Cano DM, Shearer M, Goudar C. Improving product quality and productivity of bispecific molecules through the application of continuous perfusion principles. Biotechnol Prog 2020; 36:e2973. [DOI: 10.1002/btpr.2973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2019] [Revised: 01/10/2020] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Natalia Gomez
- Drug Substance Technologies, Amgen Thousand Oaks California
| | - Jonathan Lull
- Drug Substance Technologies, Amgen Thousand Oaks California
| | - Xiaorui Yang
- Drug Substance Technologies, Amgen Thousand Oaks California
| | - Yan Wang
- Drug Substance Technologies, Amgen Cambridge Massachusetts
| | - Xin Zhang
- Attribute Sciences, Amgen Thousand Oaks California
| | | | - John Harrahy
- Attribute Sciences, Amgen Cambridge Massachusetts
| | - Mike Pritchard
- Drug Substance Technologies, Amgen Thousand Oaks California
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
18
|
Tripathi NK, Shrivastava A. Recent Developments in Bioprocessing of Recombinant Proteins: Expression Hosts and Process Development. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2019; 7:420. [PMID: 31921823 PMCID: PMC6932962 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2019.00420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 240] [Impact Index Per Article: 48.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2019] [Accepted: 11/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Infectious diseases, along with cancers, are among the main causes of death among humans worldwide. The production of therapeutic proteins for treating diseases at large scale for millions of individuals is one of the essential needs of mankind. Recent progress in the area of recombinant DNA technologies has paved the way to producing recombinant proteins that can be used as therapeutics, vaccines, and diagnostic reagents. Recombinant proteins for these applications are mainly produced using prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression host systems such as mammalian cells, bacteria, yeast, insect cells, and transgenic plants at laboratory scale as well as in large-scale settings. The development of efficient bioprocessing strategies is crucial for industrial production of recombinant proteins of therapeutic and prophylactic importance. Recently, advances have been made in the various areas of bioprocessing and are being utilized to develop effective processes for producing recombinant proteins. These include the use of high-throughput devices for effective bioprocess optimization and of disposable systems, continuous upstream processing, continuous chromatography, integrated continuous bioprocessing, Quality by Design, and process analytical technologies to achieve quality product with higher yield. This review summarizes recent developments in the bioprocessing of recombinant proteins, including in various expression systems, bioprocess development, and the upstream and downstream processing of recombinant proteins.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nagesh K. Tripathi
- Bioprocess Scale Up Facility, Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior, India
| | - Ambuj Shrivastava
- Division of Virology, Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior, India
| |
Collapse
|