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Barnidge D, Troske D, North S, Wallis G, Perkins M, Harding S. Endogenous monoclonal immunoglobulins analyzed using the EXENT® solution and LC-MS. J Mass Spectrom Adv Clin Lab 2024; 32:31-40. [PMID: 38405412 PMCID: PMC10891330 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmsacl.2024.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Revised: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction The EXENT® Solution, a fully automated system, is a recent advancement for identifying and quantifying monoclonal immunoglobulins in serum. It combines immunoprecipitation with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Compared to gel-based methods, like SPEP and IFE, it has demonstrated the ability to detect monoclonal immunoglobulins in serum at lower levels. In this study, samples that tested negative using EXENT® were reflexed to LC-MS to determine if the more sensitive LC-MS method could identify monoclonal immunoglobulins missed by EXENT®. Objectives To assess whether monoclonal immunoglobulins that are not detected by EXENT® can be detected by LC-MS using a low flow LC system coupled to a Q-TOF mass spectrometer. Methods Samples obtained from patients confirmed to have multiple myeloma (MM) were diluted with pooled polyclonal human serum and analyzed using EXENT®. If a specific monoclonal immunoglobulin was not detected by EXENT®, the sample was then subjected to analysis by LC-MS. For the LC-MS analysis, the sample eluate, obtained after the MALDI-TOF MS spotting step, was collected and transferred to an autosampler tray for subsequent analysis using LC-MS. Conclusion LC-MS has the capability to detect monoclonal immunoglobulins that are no longer detected by EXENT®. Reflexing samples to LC-MS for analysis does not involve additional sample handling, allowing for a faster time-to-result compared to current approaches, such as Next-Generation Sequencing, Next-Generation Flow, and clonotypic peptide methods. Notably, LC-MS offers equivalent sensitivity in detecting these specific monoclonal immunoglobulins.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Barnidge
- The Binding Site, Part of ThermoFisher Scientific Research and Development Laboratory, 3777 40th Ave NW, Rochester, MN 55906, United States
| | - Derek Troske
- The Binding Site, Part of ThermoFisher Scientific Research and Development Laboratory, 3777 40th Ave NW, Rochester, MN 55906, United States
| | - Simon North
- The Binding Site, Part of ThermoFisher Scientific, The Binding Site Group Ltd, 8 Calthorpe Road Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Gregg Wallis
- The Binding Site, Part of ThermoFisher Scientific, The Binding Site Group Ltd, 8 Calthorpe Road Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Mark Perkins
- The Binding Site, Part of ThermoFisher Scientific, The Binding Site Group Ltd, 8 Calthorpe Road Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Stephen Harding
- The Binding Site, Part of ThermoFisher Scientific, The Binding Site Group Ltd, 8 Calthorpe Road Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
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Takemori A, Kaulich PT, Konno R, Kawashima Y, Hamazaki Y, Hoshino A, Tholey A, Takemori N. GeLC-FAIMS-MS workflow for in-depth middle-down proteomics. Proteomics 2024; 24:e2200431. [PMID: 37548120 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.202200431] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2023] [Revised: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 08/08/2023]
Abstract
Middle-down proteomics (MDP) is an analytical approach in which protein samples are digested with proteases such as Glu-C to generate large peptides (>3 kDa) that are analyzed by mass spectrometry (MS). This method is useful for characterizing high-molecular-weight proteins that are difficult to detect by top-down proteomics (TDP), in which intact proteins are analyzed by MS. In this study, we applied GeLC-FAIMS-MS, a multidimensional separation workflow that combines gel-based prefractionation with LC-FAIMS MS, for deep MDP. Middle-down peptides generated by optimized limited Glu-C digestion conditions were first size-fractionated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by C4 reversed-phase liquid chromatography separation and additional ion mobility fractionation, resulting in a significant increase in peptide length detectable by MS. In addition to global analysis, the GeLC-FAIMS-MS concept can also be applied to targeted MDP, where only proteins in the desired molecular weight range are gel-fractionated and their Glu-C digestion products are analyzed, as demonstrated by targeted analysis of integrins in exosomes. In-depth MDP achieved by global and targeted GeLC-FAIMS-MS supports the exploration of proteoform information not covered by conventional TDP by increasing the number of detectable protein groups or post-translational modifications (PTMs) and improving the sequence coverage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayako Takemori
- Advanced Research Support Center, Institute for Promotion of Science and Technology, Ehime University, Ehime, Japan
| | - Philipp T Kaulich
- Systematic Proteome Research & Bioanalytics, Institute for Experimental Medicine, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Ryo Konno
- Department of Applied Genomics, Kazusa DNA Research Institute, Chiba, Japan
| | - Yusuke Kawashima
- Department of Applied Genomics, Kazusa DNA Research Institute, Chiba, Japan
| | - Yuto Hamazaki
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kanagawa, Japan
- Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ayuko Hoshino
- School of Life Science and Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kanagawa, Japan
- Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Andreas Tholey
- Systematic Proteome Research & Bioanalytics, Institute for Experimental Medicine, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Nobuaki Takemori
- Advanced Research Support Center, Institute for Promotion of Science and Technology, Ehime University, Ehime, Japan
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Dhenin J, Lafont V, Dupré M, Krick A, Mauriac C, Chamot-Rooke J. Monitoring mAb proteoforms in mouse plasma using an automated immunocapture combined with top-down and middle-down mass spectrometry. Proteomics 2024; 24:e2300069. [PMID: 37480175 DOI: 10.1002/pmic.202300069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2023] [Revised: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 07/23/2023]
Abstract
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have established themselves as the leading biopharmaceutical therapeutic modality. Once the developability of a mAb drug candidate has been assessed, an important step is to check its in vivo stability through pharmacokinetics (PK) studies. The gold standard is ligand-binding assay (LBA) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) performed at the peptide level (bottom-up approach). However, these analytical techniques do not allow to address the different mAb proteoforms that can arise from biotransformation. In recent years, top-down and middle-down mass spectrometry approaches have gained popularity to characterize proteins at the proteoform level but are not yet widely used for PK studies. We propose here a workflow based on an automated immunocapture followed by top-down and middle-down liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) approaches to characterize mAb proteoforms spiked in mouse plasma. We demonstrate the applicability of our workflow on a large concentration range using pembrolizumab as a model. We also compare the performance of two state-of-the-art Orbitrap platforms (Tribrid Eclipse and Exploris 480) for these studies. The added value of our workflow for an accurate and sensitive characterization of mAb proteoforms in mouse plasma is highlighted.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan Dhenin
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UAR2024, Mass Spectrometry for Biology, Paris, France
- Université Paris Cité, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
- DMPK, Sanofi R&D, Chilly-Mazarin, France
| | | | | | | | | | - Julia Chamot-Rooke
- Institut Pasteur, Université Paris Cité, CNRS UAR2024, Mass Spectrometry for Biology, Paris, France
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van Rijswijck DMH, Bondt A, de Kat N, Lood R, Heck AJR. Direct Comparison of the Hinge-Cleaving Proteases IgdE and BdpK for LC-MS-Based IgG1 Clonal Profiling. Anal Chem 2024; 96:23-27. [PMID: 38105593 PMCID: PMC10782413 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c03712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2023] [Revised: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 11/23/2023] [Indexed: 12/19/2023]
Abstract
Human antibodies are heterogeneous molecules primarily due to clonal sequence variations. Analytical techniques to assess antibody levels quantitatively, such as ELISA, lack the power to resolve abundances at the clonal level. Recently, we introduced an LC-MS-based approach that can distinguish and quantify antibody clones using the mass and retention time of their corresponding Fab-fragments. We used specific hinge-cleaving protease IgdE (FabALACTICA) to release the Fab-fragments from the constant Fc region of the antibody. Here, we explore an alternative IgG1 hinge-cleaving protease, BdpK (FabDELLO), and compare it directly to IgdE for use in IgG1 repertoire profiling. We used IgdE and BdpK in parallel to digest all IgG1s from the same set of plasma samples. Both proteases cleave IgG1 specifically in the hinge, albeit via different mechanisms and at two distinct cleavage sites. Notwithstanding these differences, the Fab fragments generated by IgdE or BdpK produced highly similar clonal repertoires. However, IgdE required ∼16 h of incubation to digest plasma IgG1s, while BdpK required ∼2 h. We authenticated the similarity of the clones by top-down proteomics using electron transfer dissociation. We conclude that BdpK performs very well in digesting polyclonal plasma IgG1s and that neither BdpK nor IgdE displays detectable biases in cleaving IgG1s. We anticipate that BdpK may emerge as the preferred protease for IgG1 hinge-digestion because it offers a shorter digestion time compared to IgdE, an equally specific digestion site, and no bias against any IgG1 present in plasma.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danique M H van Rijswijck
- Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Proteomics Center, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
| | - Albert Bondt
- Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Proteomics Center, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
| | - Naomi de Kat
- Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Proteomics Center, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
| | - Rolf Lood
- Genovis AB, Scheelevägen 2, 223 63 Lund, Sweden
| | - Albert J R Heck
- Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
- Netherlands Proteomics Center, Padualaan 8, Utrecht 3584 CH, The Netherlands
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Beaumal C, Deslignière E, Diemer H, Carapito C, Cianférani S, Hernandez-Alba O. Improved characterization of trastuzumab deruxtecan with PTCR and internal fragments implemented in middle-down MS workflows. Anal Bioanal Chem 2024; 416:519-532. [PMID: 38008785 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-023-05059-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Revised: 11/13/2023] [Accepted: 11/14/2023] [Indexed: 11/28/2023]
Abstract
Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are highly complex proteins mainly due to the structural microvariability of the mAb, along with the additional heterogeneity afforded by the bioconjugation process. Top-down (TD) and middle-down (MD) strategies allow the straightforward fragmentation of proteins to elucidate the conjugated amino acid residues. Nevertheless, these spectra are very crowded with multiple overlapping and unassigned ion fragments. Here we report on the use of dedicated software (ClipsMS) and application of proton transfer charge reduction (PTCR), to respectively expand the fragment ion search space to internal fragments and improve the separation of overlapping fragment ions for a more comprehensive characterization of a recently approved ADC, trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd). Subunit fragmentation allowed between 70 and 90% of sequence coverage to be obtained. Upon addition of internal fragment assignment, the three subunits were fully sequenced, although internal fragments did not contribute significantly to the localization of the payloads. Finally, the use of PTCR after subunit fragmentation provided a moderate sequence coverage increase between 2 and 13%. The reaction efficiently decluttered the fragmentation spectra allowing increasing the number of fragment ions characteristic of the conjugation site by 1.5- to 2.5-fold. Altogether, these results show the interest in the implementation of internal fragment ion searches and more particularly the use of PTCR reactions to increase the number of signature ions to elucidate the conjugation sites and enhance the overall sequence coverage of ADCs, making this approach particularly appealing for its implementation in R&D laboratories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corentin Beaumal
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67087, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048, Strasbourg, France
| | - Evolène Deslignière
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67087, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048, Strasbourg, France
| | - Hélène Diemer
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67087, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048, Strasbourg, France
| | - Christine Carapito
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67087, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048, Strasbourg, France
| | - Sarah Cianférani
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67087, Strasbourg, France
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048, Strasbourg, France
| | - Oscar Hernandez-Alba
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, CNRS, Université de Strasbourg, 67087, Strasbourg, France.
- Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI - FR2048, Strasbourg, France.
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Castel J, Delaux S, Hernandez-Alba O, Cianférani S. Recent advances in structural mass spectrometry methods in the context of biosimilarity assessment: from sequence heterogeneities to higher order structures. J Pharm Biomed Anal 2023; 236:115696. [PMID: 37713983 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2023.115696] [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: 06/28/2023] [Revised: 08/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 09/17/2023]
Abstract
Biotherapeutics and their biosimilar versions have been flourishing in the biopharmaceutical market for several years. Structural and functional characterization is needed to achieve analytical biosimilarity through the assessment of critical quality attributes as required by regulatory authorities. The role of analytical strategies, particularly mass spectrometry-based methods, is pivotal to gathering valuable information for the in-depth characterization of biotherapeutics and biosimilarity assessment. Structural mass spectrometry methods (native MS, HDX-MS, top-down MS, etc.) provide information ranging from primary sequence assessment to higher order structure evaluation. This review focuses on recent developments and applications in structural mass spectrometry for biotherapeutic and biosimilar characterization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jérôme Castel
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio-Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg 67087, France; Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI, FR2048 CNRS CEA, Strasbourg 67087, France
| | - Sarah Delaux
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio-Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg 67087, France; Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI, FR2048 CNRS CEA, Strasbourg 67087, France
| | - Oscar Hernandez-Alba
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio-Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg 67087, France; Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI, FR2048 CNRS CEA, Strasbourg 67087, France
| | - Sarah Cianférani
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie de Masse Bio-Organique, IPHC UMR 7178, Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Strasbourg 67087, France; Infrastructure Nationale de Protéomique ProFI, FR2048 CNRS CEA, Strasbourg 67087, France.
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