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Rizzotto E, Inciardi I, Fongaro B, Trolese P, Miolo G, Polverino de Laureto P. Light exacerbates local and global effects induced by pH unfolding of Ipilimumab. Eur J Pharm Biopharm 2024; 201:114387. [PMID: 38944210 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpb.2024.114387] [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: 04/05/2024] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/01/2024]
Abstract
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are an essential class of therapeutic proteins for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune and rare diseases. During their production, storage, and administration processes, these proteins encounter various stressors such as temperature fluctuations, vibrations, and light exposure, able to induce chemico-physical modifications to their structure. Viral inactivation is a key step in downstream processes, and it is achieved by titration of the mAb at low pH, followed by neutralization. The changes of the pH pose a significant risk of unfolding and subsequent aggregation to proteins, thereby affecting their manufacturing. This study aims to investigate whether a combined exposure to light during the viral inactivation process can further affect the structural integrity of Ipilimumab, a mAb primarily used in the treatment of metastatic melanoma. The biophysical and biochemical characterization of Ipilimumab revealed that pH variation is a considerable risk for its stability with irreversible unfolding at pH 2. The threshold for Ipilimumab denaturation lies between pH 2 and 3 and is correlated with the loss of the protein structural cooperativity, which is the most critical factor determining the protein refolding. Light has demonstrated to exacerbate some local and global effects making pH-induced exposed regions more vulnerable to structural and chemical changes. Therefore, specific precautions to real-life exposure to ambient light during the sterilization process of mAbs should be considered to avoid loss of the therapeutic activity and to increase the yield of production. Our findings underscore the critical role of pH optimization in preserving the structural integrity and therapeutic efficacy of mAbs. Moreover, a detailed conformational study on the structural modifications of Ipilimumab may improve the chemico-physical knowledge of this effective drug and suggest new production strategies for more stable products under some kind of stress conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Rizzotto
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Via Marzolo 5, 30131 Padova, Italy
| | - Ilenia Inciardi
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Via Marzolo 5, 30131 Padova, Italy
| | - Benedetta Fongaro
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Via Marzolo 5, 30131 Padova, Italy
| | - Philipp Trolese
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Via Marzolo 5, 30131 Padova, Italy
| | - Giorgia Miolo
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, Via Marzolo 5, 30131 Padova, Italy
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2
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Eskandari A, Nezhad NG, Leow TC, Rahman MBA, Oslan SN. Essential factors, advanced strategies, challenges, and approaches involved for efficient expression of recombinant proteins in Escherichia coli. Arch Microbiol 2024; 206:152. [PMID: 38472371 DOI: 10.1007/s00203-024-03871-2] [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: 12/10/2023] [Revised: 12/31/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 03/14/2024]
Abstract
Producing recombinant proteins is a major accomplishment of biotechnology in the past century. Heterologous hosts, either eukaryotic or prokaryotic, are used for the production of these proteins. The utilization of microbial host systems continues to dominate as the most efficient and affordable method for biotherapeutics and food industry productions. Hence, it is crucial to analyze the limitations and advantages of microbial hosts to enhance the efficient production of recombinant proteins on a large scale. E. coli is widely used as a host for the production of recombinant proteins. Researchers have identified certain obstacles with this host, and given the growing demand for recombinant protein production, there is an immediate requirement to enhance this host. The following review discusses the elements contributing to the manifestation of recombinant protein. Subsequently, it sheds light on innovative approaches aimed at improving the expression of recombinant protein. Lastly, it delves into the obstacles and optimization methods associated with translation, mentioning both cis-optimization and trans-optimization, producing soluble recombinant protein, and engineering the metal ion transportation. In this context, a comprehensive description of the distinct features will be provided, and this knowledge could potentially enhance the expression of recombinant proteins in E. coli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Azadeh Eskandari
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology Research Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Department of Biochemistry, FacultyofBiotechnologyand BiomolecularSciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Nima Ghahremani Nezhad
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology Research Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Thean Chor Leow
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology Research Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
- Enzyme Technology and X-Ray Crystallography Laboratory, VacBio 5, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
| | | | - Siti Nurbaya Oslan
- Enzyme and Microbial Technology Research Centre, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
- Department of Biochemistry, FacultyofBiotechnologyand BiomolecularSciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
- Enzyme Technology and X-Ray Crystallography Laboratory, VacBio 5, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
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Ughade S, Rana S, Nadeem M, Kumthekar R, Mahajani S, Bhambure R. Mechanistic Modeling of Size Exclusion Chromatography-Assisted In Vitro Refolding of the Recombinant Biosimilar Teriparatide (PTH-34). ACS OMEGA 2024; 9:3204-3216. [PMID: 38284095 PMCID: PMC10809233 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c04463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 12/10/2023] [Accepted: 12/21/2023] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
In vitro protein refolding is one of the critical unit operations in manufacturing recombinant peptides expressed using Escherichia coli as host cells. This study is focused on designing size exclusion chromatography-assisted in vitro refolding process for biosimilar recombinant parathyroid hormone. Inclusion bodies (IBs) of recombinant parathyroid hormone were solubilized at higher pH, and in vitro refolding was performed using size exclusion chromatography. In the first part of the investigation, DoE-based empirical optimization was performed to achieve a higher refolding yield for a biosimilar recombinant parathyroid hormone. The effect of solubilized inclusion body (IB) feed volume, concentration of IBs, and residence time on in vitro refolding of recombinant teriparatide was studied using the Box-Behnken design. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC)-assisted in vitro refolding was performed at 8 °C at pH 10.5 by using 20 mM Tris buffer. The maximum refolding yield of 98.12% was achieved at feed volume (12.5% of CV) and 20 mg/mL inclusion body (IB) concentration with a residence time of 50 min and a purity of 66.1% based on densitometric analysis using SDS-PAGE. In the latter part of the investigation, the general rate mechanistic model framework for size exclusion chromatography was developed and validated with the experimental results. The developed model helped in the accurate prediction of the elution volumes and product yield. The developed model also helps to predict the elution performance of a scalable column a priori. Post in vitro refolding, the formation of the native peptide structure was examined using various orthogonal analytical tools to study the protein's primary, secondary, and tertiary structures. The developed hybrid process development approach is a valuable tool toachieve high-yield, scalable refolding conditions for recombinant proteins without disulfide bonds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Santosh Ughade
- Chemical
Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India
- Academy
of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Sunil Rana
- Chemical
Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India
- Academy
of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Mohd Nadeem
- Chemical
Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India
- Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
| | - Rupali Kumthekar
- Chemical
Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India
- Academy
of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Sanjay Mahajani
- Chemical
Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India
- Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
| | - Rahul Bhambure
- Chemical
Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India
- Academy
of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
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4
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Gagné D, Sarker M, Gingras G, Hodgson DJ, Frahm G, Creskey M, Lorbetskie B, Bigelow S, Wang J, Zhang X, Johnston MJW, Lu H, Aubin Y. Strategies for the production of isotopically labelled Fab fragments of therapeutic antibodies in Komagataella phaffii (Pichia pastoris) and Escherichia coli for NMR studies. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0294406. [PMID: 38019850 PMCID: PMC10686436 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Accepted: 10/30/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The importance and fast growth of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, both innovator and biosimilar products, have triggered the need for the development of characterization methods at high resolution such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. However, the full power of NMR spectroscopy cannot be unleashed without labelling the mAb of interest with NMR-active isotopes. Here, we present strategies using either Komagataella phaffii (Pichia pastoris) or Escherichia coli that can be widely applied for the production of the antigen-binding fragment (Fab) of therapeutic antibodies of immunoglobulin G1 kappa isotype. The E. coli approach consists of expressing Fab fragments as a single polypeptide chain with a cleavable linker between the heavy and light chain in inclusion bodies, while K. phaffii secretes a properly folded fragment in the culture media. After optimization, the protocol yielded 10-45 mg of single chain adalimumab-Fab, trastuzumab-Fab, rituximab-Fab, and NISTmAb-Fab per liter of culture. Comparison of the 2D-1H-15N-HSQC spectra of each Fab fragment, without their polyhistidine tag and linker, with the corresponding Fab from the innovator product showed that all four fragments have folded into the correct conformation. Production of 2H-13C-15N-adalimumab-scFab and 2H-13C-15N-trastuzumab-scFab (>98% enrichment for all three isotopes) yielded NMR samples where all amide deuterons have completely exchanged back to proton during the refolding procedure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donald Gagné
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Muzaddid Sarker
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Geneviève Gingras
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Derek J. Hodgson
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Grant Frahm
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Marybeth Creskey
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Barry Lorbetskie
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Stewart Bigelow
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Jun Wang
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Xu Zhang
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Michael J. W. Johnston
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Department of Chemistry, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Huixin Lu
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Yves Aubin
- Regulatory Research Division, Center for Oncology, Radiopharmaceuticals and Research, Health Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
- Department of Chemistry, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Rana S, Ughade S, Kumthekar R, Bhambure R. Chromatography assisted in-vitro refolding and purification of recombinant peptibody: Recombinant Romiplostim a case study. Int J Biol Macromol 2023; 249:126037. [PMID: 37516226 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.126037] [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: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 07/16/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2023] [Indexed: 07/31/2023]
Abstract
In-vitro protein refolding is one of the key rate-limiting unit operations in manufacturing of fusion proteins such as peptibodies expressed using E. coli. Dilution-assisted refolding is the most commonly used industrial practice to achieve the soluble, native functional form of the recombinant protein from the inclusion bodies. This study is focused on developing a chromatography-assisted in-vitro refolding platform to produce the biologically active, native form of recombinant peptibody. Recombinant Romiplostim was selected as a model protein for the study. A plug flow tubular reactor was connected in series with capture step affinity chromatography to achieve simultaneous in-vitro refolding and capture step purification of recombinant Romiplostim. Effect of various critical process parameters like fold dilution, temperature, residence time, and Cysteine: DTT ratio was studied using a central composite based design of experiment strategy to achieve a maximum refolding yield of selected peptibody. Under optimum refolding conditions, the maximum refolding yield of 57.0 ± 1.5 % and a purity of over 79.73 ± 3.4 % were achieved at 25-fold dilution, 15 °C temperature, 6 h residence time with 6 mM and 10 mM of cysteine and DTT, respectively. The formation of native peptibody structure was examined using various orthogonal analytical tools to study the protein's primary, secondary, and tertiary structure. The amino acid sequence for the disulfide-linked peptide was mapped using collision-induced dissociation (CID) to confirm the formation of interchain disulfide bonds between Cys7-Cys7 and Cys10-Cys10 similarly for intra-chain disulfide bonds between Cys42-Cys102, and Cys148-Cys206. The developed protocol here is a valuable tool to identify high-yield scalable refolding conditions for multi-domain proteins involving inter-domain disulfide bonds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sunil Rana
- Chemical Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Santosh Ughade
- Chemical Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Rupali Kumthekar
- Chemical Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India
| | - Rahul Bhambure
- Chemical Engineering and Process Development Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune 411008, India; Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India.
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6
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Tungekar AA, Ruddock LW. Design of an alternate antibody fragment format that can be produced in the cytoplasm of Escherichia coli. Sci Rep 2023; 13:14188. [PMID: 37648872 PMCID: PMC10469194 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-41525-3] [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: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/01/2023] Open
Abstract
With increased accessibility and tissue penetration, smaller antibody formats such as antibody fragments (Fab) and single chain variable fragments (scFv) show potential as effective and low-cost choices to full-length antibodies. These formats derived from the modular architecture of antibodies could prove to be game changers for certain therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Microbial hosts have shown tremendous promise as production hosts for antibody fragment formats. However, low target protein yields coupled with the complexity of protein folding result in production limitations. Here, we report an alternative antibody fragment format 'FabH3' designed to overcome some key bottlenecks associated with the folding and production of Fabs. The FabH3 molecule is based on the Fab format with the constant domains replaced by engineered immunoglobulin G1 (IgG1) CH3 domains capable of heterodimerization based on the electrostatic steering approach. We show that this alternative antibody fragment format can be efficiently produced in the cytoplasm of E. coli using the catalyzed disulfide-bond formation system (CyDisCo) in a natively folded state with higher soluble yields than its Fab counterpart and a comparable binding affinity against the target antigen.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aatir A Tungekar
- Protein and Structural Biology Research Unit, Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, 90220, Oulu, Finland
| | - Lloyd W Ruddock
- Protein and Structural Biology Research Unit, Faculty of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, University of Oulu, 90220, Oulu, Finland.
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Llowarch P, Usselmann L, Ivanov D, Holdgate GA. Thermal unfolding methods in drug discovery. BIOPHYSICS REVIEWS 2023; 4:021305. [PMID: 38510342 PMCID: PMC10903397 DOI: 10.1063/5.0144141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/22/2024]
Abstract
Thermal unfolding methods, applied in both isolated protein and cell-based settings, are increasingly used to identify and characterize hits during early drug discovery. Technical developments over recent years have facilitated their application in high-throughput approaches, and they now are used more frequently for primary screening. Widespread access to instrumentation and automation, the ability to miniaturize, as well as the capability and capacity to generate the appropriate scale and quality of protein and cell reagents have all played a part in these advances. As the nature of drug targets and approaches to their modulation have evolved, these methods have broadened our ability to provide useful chemical start points. Target proteins without catalytic function, or those that may be difficult to express and purify, are amenable to these methods. Here, we provide a review of the applications of thermal unfolding methods applied in hit finding during early drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Poppy Llowarch
- High Throughput Screening, Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, United Kingdom
| | - Laura Usselmann
- High Throughput Screening, Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, United Kingdom
| | - Delyan Ivanov
- High Throughput Screening, Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, United Kingdom
| | - Geoffrey A. Holdgate
- High Throughput Screening, Hit Discovery, Discovery Sciences, R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, United Kingdom
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8
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Buscajoni L, Martinetz MC, Berkemeyer M, Brocard C. Refolding in the modern biopharmaceutical industry. Biotechnol Adv 2022; 61:108050. [PMID: 36252795 DOI: 10.1016/j.biotechadv.2022.108050] [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: 06/07/2022] [Revised: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Inclusion bodies (IBs) often emerge upon overexpression of recombinant proteins in E. coli. From IBs, refolding is necessary to generate the native protein that can be further purified to obtain pure and active biologicals. This work focusses on refolding as a significant process step during biopharmaceutical manufacturing with an industrial perspective. A theoretical and historical background on protein refolding gives the reader a starting point for further insights into industrial process development. Quality requirements on IBs as starting material for refolding are discussed and further economic and ecological aspects are considered with regards to buffer systems and refolding conditions. A process development roadmap shows the development of a refolding process starting from first exploratory screening rounds to scale-up and implementation in manufacturing plant. Different aspects, with a direct influence on yield, such as the selection of chemicals including pH, ionic strength, additives, etc., and other often neglected aspects, important during scale-up, such as mixing, and gas-fluid interaction, are highlighted with the use of a quality by design (QbD) approach. The benefits of simulation sciences (process simulation and computer fluid dynamics) and process analytical technology (PAT) for seamless process development are emphasized. The work concludes with an outlook on future applications of refolding and highlights open research inquiries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luisa Buscajoni
- Boehringer-Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Biopharma Austria, Process Science Downstream Development, Dr. Boehringer-Gasse 5- 11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Michael C Martinetz
- Boehringer-Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Biopharma Austria, Process Science Downstream Development, Dr. Boehringer-Gasse 5- 11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Matthias Berkemeyer
- Boehringer-Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Biopharma Austria, Process Science Downstream Development, Dr. Boehringer-Gasse 5- 11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
| | - Cécile Brocard
- Boehringer-Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG, Biopharma Austria, Process Science Downstream Development, Dr. Boehringer-Gasse 5- 11, 1120 Vienna, Austria.
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Sharma R, Anupa A, Kateja N, Rathore AS. Optimization of the in-vitro refolding of biotherapeutic Fab Ranibizumab. Biochem Eng J 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2022.108601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
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10
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Gani K, Chirmade T, Ughade S, Thulasiram H, Bhambure R. Understanding unfolding and refolding of the antibody fragment (Fab) III: Mapping covalent and non-covalent interactions during in-vitro refolding of light chain, heavy chain, and Fab. Biochem Eng J 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2022.108644] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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11
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Challenges in Expression and Purification of Functional Fab Fragments in E. coli: Current Strategies and Perspectives. FERMENTATION-BASEL 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/fermentation8040175] [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]
Abstract
Microbial host systems remain the most efficient and cost-effective chassis for biotherapeutics production. Escherichia coli is often the preferred host due to ease of cloning, scale-up, high product yields, and most importantly, cost-effective cultivation. E. coli often experience difficulties in producing biologically active therapeutics such as Fab fragments, which require protein folding and subsequent three-dimensional structure development. This paper outlines the recent improvements in upstream and downstream unit operations for producing Fab fragments in E. coli. Monoclonal antibody fragments (Fab) are a rising class of biotherapeutics and their production has been optimised using coexpression of molecular chaperones such as DsbC or DnaK–DnaJ–GrpE, as well as strain engineering for post-translational modifications such as disulphide bridging. Different media systems such as EnBase and combining nitrogen source supplementation with low-temperature cultivation have resulted in improvement in cell integrity, protein expression, and protein refolding. The recovery of native proteins from insoluble inclusion bodies can be improved by adjusting refolding conditions, as well as by incorporating multimodal and affinity chromatography for achieving high product yields in purification. Recent developments summarised in this review may tune the E. coli expression system to produce more complex and glycosylated proteins for therapeutic use in the near future.
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Nainwal N, Chirmade T, Gani K, Rana S, Bhambure R. Understanding unfolding and refolding of the antibody fragments (Fab). II. Mapping intra and inter-chain disulfide bonds using mass spectrometry. Biochem Eng J 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2022.108439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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13
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Mehta D, Chirmade T, Tungekar AA, Gani K, Bhambure R. Cloning and expression of antibody fragment (Fab) I: Effect of expression construct and induction strategies on light and heavy chain gene expression. Biochem Eng J 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2021.108189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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14
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Orozco CT, Edgeworth MJ, Devine PWA, Hines AR, Cornwell O, Thompson C, Wang X, Phillips JJ, Ravn P, Jackson SE, Bond NJ. Interconversion of Unexpected Thiol States Affects the Stability, Structure, and Dynamics of Antibody Engineered for Site-Specific Conjugation. Bioconjug Chem 2021; 32:1834-1844. [PMID: 34369158 DOI: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.1c00286] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Antibody-drug conjugates have become one of the most actively developed classes of drugs in recent years. Their great potential comes from combining the strengths of large and small molecule therapeutics: the exquisite specificity of antibodies and the highly potent nature of cytotoxic compounds. More recently, the approach of engineering antibody-drug conjugate scaffolds to achieve highly controlled drug to antibody ratios has focused on substituting or inserting cysteines to facilitate site-specific conjugation. Herein, we characterize an antibody scaffold engineered with an inserted cysteine that formed an unexpected disulfide bridge during manufacture. A combination of mass spectrometry and biophysical techniques have been used to understand how the additional disulfide bridge forms, interconverts, and changes the stability and structural dynamics of the antibody intermediate. This quantitative and structurally resolved model of the local and global changes in structure and dynamics associated with the engineering and subsequent disulfide-bonded variant can assist future engineering strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina T Orozco
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, CB2 1EW Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew J Edgeworth
- Analytical Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, CB21 6GH Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Paul W A Devine
- Analytical Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, CB21 6GH Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Alistair R Hines
- Analytical Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, CB21 6GH Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Owen Cornwell
- Analytical Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, CB21 6GH Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Christopher Thompson
- Purification Process Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878, United States
| | - Xiangyang Wang
- Analytical Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20878, United States
| | - Jonathan J Phillips
- Living Systems Institute, Department of Biosciences, University of Exeter, EX4 4QD Exeter, United Kingdom
| | - Peter Ravn
- Antibody Discovery and Protein Engineering, R&D, AstraZeneca, CB21 6GH Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Sophie E Jackson
- Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, CB2 1EW Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas J Bond
- Analytical Sciences, Biopharmaceutical Development, R&D, AstraZeneca, CB21 6GH Cambridge, United Kingdom
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