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Fan W, Zhen L, Zhu X, Zhou Y. Strong cation-exchange combined with mass spectrometry reveals the glycoform heterogeneity of sialylated glycoproteins. ANALYTICAL METHODS : ADVANCING METHODS AND APPLICATIONS 2024; 16:3475-3485. [PMID: 38780482 DOI: 10.1039/d4ay00486h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Sialylation is an important modification of proteins, related to protein life and bioactivity. However, the evaluation of sialylation is only based on the average molecular composition by peptide mapping and glycan profiling because sialylated proteins are usually too heterogeneous to obtain good quality mass spectra by conventional intact mass analysis methods. In this study, a simple strong cation exchange-mass spectroscopy (SCX-MS) method was developed for intact mass analysis of sialylated glycoproteins. The developed SCX-MS method provided good separation for sialylated glycoproteins and had an inherent characteristic of native MS. Thus, the intact mass analysis of highly heterogeneous glycoprotein, which cannot be obtained by reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC)-MS and size exclusion chromatography (SEC)-MS methods, can be well analyzed using the current SCX-MS method. First, the method was developed and optimized using the etanercept monomer. Conditions including MS parameters, flow rate, and gradient were investigated. Then, the developed method was used to analyze a new recombinant vaccine, protein 1. Similar to the etanercept monomer, the intact molecular information of protein 1, which cannot be obtained by RPLC-MS and SEC-MS, can be achieved using SCX-MS. Combined with information obtained on peptide mapping and glycan profiles obtained by LC-MS, the new vaccine was well characterized. Finally, the SCX-MS method was used to quickly evaluate the batch-to-batch reproducibility of protein 1. It was much faster than peptide mapping and glycan profiling methods and can provide information complementary to these strategies. It should be useful for many applications where speed and comprehensive characterization are required, such as recombinant sialylated vaccines and fusion proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenhong Fan
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing 100050, China.
| | - Long Zhen
- ThermoFisher Scientific Corporation, Beijing 100080, China.
| | - Xiang Zhu
- ThermoFisher Scientific Corporation, Beijing 100080, China.
| | - Yong Zhou
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing 100050, China.
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Heissel S, He Y, Jankevics A, Shi Y, Molina H, Viner R, Scheltema RA. Fast and Accurate Disulfide Bridge Detection. Mol Cell Proteomics 2024; 23:100759. [PMID: 38574859 PMCID: PMC11067345 DOI: 10.1016/j.mcpro.2024.100759] [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: 11/16/2023] [Revised: 03/08/2024] [Accepted: 04/01/2024] [Indexed: 04/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Recombinant expression of proteins, propelled by therapeutic antibodies, has evolved into a multibillion dollar industry. Essential here is the quality control assessment of critical attributes, such as sequence fidelity, proper folding, and posttranslational modifications. Errors can lead to diminished bioactivity and, in the context of therapeutic proteins, an elevated risk for immunogenicity. Over the years, many techniques were developed and applied to validate proteins in a standardized and high-throughput fashion. One parameter has, however, so far been challenging to assess. Disulfide bridges, covalent bonds linking two cysteine residues, assist in the correct folding and stability of proteins and thus have a major influence on their efficacy. Mass spectrometry promises to be an optimal technique to uncover them in a fast and accurate fashion. In this work, we present a unique combination of sample preparation, data acquisition, and analysis facilitating the rapid and accurate assessment of disulfide bridges in purified proteins. Through microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis, the proteins are digested rapidly and artifact-free into peptides, with a substantial degree of overlap over the sequence. The nonspecific nature of this procedure, however, introduces chemical background, which is efficiently removed by integrating ion mobility preceding the mass spectrometric measurement. The nonspecific nature of the digestion step additionally necessitates new developments in data analysis, for which we extended the XlinkX node in Proteome Discoverer to efficiently process the data and ensure correctness through effective false discovery rate correction. The entire workflow can be completed within 1 h, allowing for high-throughput, high-accuracy disulfide mapping.
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Affiliation(s)
- Søren Heissel
- Proteomics Resource Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA.
| | - Yi He
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose, California, USA
| | - Andris Jankevics
- Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Structural Proteomics Group, Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Yuqi Shi
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose, California, USA
| | - Henrik Molina
- Proteomics Resource Center, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Rosa Viner
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, San Jose, California, USA.
| | - Richard A Scheltema
- Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands; Structural Proteomics Group, Department of Biochemistry and Systems Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
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Fan W, Li X, Long Z, Pei D, Shi X, Wang G, Guo Y, Bo T, Zhou Y, Chen T. Integrating ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and imaged capillary isoelectric focusing for in-depth characterization of complex fusion proteins. RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY : RCM 2023; 37:e9484. [PMID: 36735852 DOI: 10.1002/rcm.9484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 01/03/2023] [Accepted: 01/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
RATIONALE Fc-fusion proteins represent a successful class of biopharmaceutical products, which combine the tailored pharmacological properties of biological ligands with the multiple functions of the fragment crystallizable domain of immunoglobulins. There is great diversity in terms of possible biological ligands creating highly diverse structures, therefore the analytical characterization of fusion proteins is far more complex than that of monoclonal antibodies and requires the use and development of additional product-specific methods over conventional generic/platform methods. METHODS Employing etanercept analogues as studied fusion proteins, the Orbitrap mass analyzer with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC-MS) and imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) were utilized for the in-depth fusion protein characterization. RESULTS The amino acid sequence coverage, peptide mapping, and post-translational modifications of etanercept analogues were analyzed by UHPLC-MS. The post-translational modification results were complemented by imaged capillary isoelectric focusing to produce quality research on etanercept analogues. CONCLUSIONS The developed workflow integrating UHPLC-MS and icIEF provided an innovative strategy for characterizing complex fusion proteins in the process of quality control and manufacturing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenhong Fan
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Xiang Li
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Zhen Long
- Thermo Fisher Scientific, Beijing, China
| | - Dening Pei
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Xinchang Shi
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Guangyu Wang
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Ying Guo
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Tao Bo
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
| | - Yong Zhou
- National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing, China
| | - Tong Chen
- Advanced Electrophoresis Solution LTD, Cambridge, Canada
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Akbarian M, Chen SH. Instability Challenges and Stabilization Strategies of Pharmaceutical Proteins. Pharmaceutics 2022; 14:2533. [PMID: 36432723 PMCID: PMC9699111 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14112533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Revised: 11/13/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Maintaining the structure of protein and peptide drugs has become one of the most important goals of scientists in recent decades. Cold and thermal denaturation conditions, lyophilization and freeze drying, different pH conditions, concentrations, ionic strength, environmental agitation, the interaction between the surface of liquid and air as well as liquid and solid, and even the architectural structure of storage containers are among the factors that affect the stability of these therapeutic biomacromolecules. The use of genetic engineering, side-directed mutagenesis, fusion strategies, solvent engineering, the addition of various preservatives, surfactants, and additives are some of the solutions to overcome these problems. This article will discuss the types of stress that lead to instabilities of different proteins used in pharmaceutics including regulatory proteins, antibodies, and antibody-drug conjugates, and then all the methods for fighting these stresses will be reviewed. New and existing analytical methods that are used to detect the instabilities, mainly changes in their primary and higher order structures, are briefly summarized.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Shu-Hui Chen
- Department of Chemistry, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
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Zhao Q, Yuan JJ, Hu F, Qian C, Tian CF, Wang JT, Gao D, Yi W, Wang HB. Isolation, physicochemical, and structure-function relationship of the hydrophobic variant of Fc-fusion proteins that bind to TNF-α receptor, HS002 and HS002A. J Chromatogr B Analyt Technol Biomed Life Sci 2021; 1186:123026. [PMID: 34781108 DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2021.123026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Revised: 09/05/2021] [Accepted: 11/04/2021] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
HS002 is the recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-α receptor Ⅱ: IgG Fc fusion protein licensed in China to treat rheumatism and psoriasis. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize the hydrophobic freeze-dried powder injection (HS002) and ampoule injection (HS002A) variants derived from proteins of the same sequence and then to explore the structure-function relationship. Extensive physicochemical and structural testing was performed during a side-by-side comparison of the monomer peak and variant. Then the TNF-α-related binding activity, cell biological activity and affinity with FcRn were analyzed. Finally, a transformation study of the hydrophobic variant was performed under serum-like redox conditions. This research revealed that HS002A has similar physicochemical and structure-function relationship profiles to those of HS002. The hydrophobic variant exhibited the presence of new incorrect disulfide bridging. At the same time, this novel disulfide scrambled species structure-function relationship was found to be the molecular basis for reduced TNF-α binding and cell biological activities. In addition, incorrect disulfide bridging was found to be reversible under serum-like redox conditions, restoring TNF-α binding and cell biological activities to almost normal levels, all of which indicate that the variant is probably irrelevant to clinical efficacy once the drug enters the bloodstream.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qiang Zhao
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China; Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China
| | - Jun-Jie Yuan
- Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China
| | - Feng Hu
- Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China
| | - Ci Qian
- Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China
| | - Cheng-Fu Tian
- Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China
| | - Ji-Teng Wang
- Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China
| | - Dong Gao
- Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China
| | - Wen Yi
- College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China
| | - Hai-Bin Wang
- Zhejiang Bioray Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taizhou, Zhejiang 318000, China.
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Cysteine inducing formation and reshuffling of disulfide bonds in cold-extruded whey protein molecules: From structural and functional characteristics to cytotoxicity. Food Chem 2021; 360:130121. [PMID: 34034051 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.130121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2020] [Revised: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Polymer chemistry, rheology and cytotoxicity of cysteine initiated S-S redistribution in cold-extruded whey protein (TWPI) molecules were investigated. The locations of disulfide bonds in whey protein isolate (WPI), WPI dried without being extruded (OWPI) and cold-extruded WPI (TWPI), Cysteine (Cys)-treated WPI (WPI-Cys), OWPI (OWPI-Cys) and TWPI (TWPI-Cys) were precisely analyzed using liquid chromatography electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) combined with pLink software approaches. The numbers of intermolecular disulfide cross-linked peptides identified in Cys-treated samples increased by 4, 6 and 1, respectively, in the order of TWPI-Cys, OWPI-Cys and WPI-Cys. Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed cysteine treatment loosed secondary structure of protein samples. Meanwhile, size exclusion chromatography (SEC) assay demonstrated the extensive polymerization in TWPI-Cys. Furthermore, Cys-treatment decreased the gelling temperature of TWPI to 57 °C sharply. Cys-treated TWPI has 19.11 times storage modulus (G') and 25.86 times loss modulus (G") of Cys-untreated TWPI at 85 °C. Additionally, cell viability with Cys addition indicate modified whey proteins are not toxic to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs).
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Kuo CM, Wei SY, Du SH, Lin JL, Chu CH, Chen CH, Tai JH, Chen SH. Comprehensive Workflow for Mapping Disulfide Linkages Including Free Thiols and Error Checking by On-Line UV-Induced Precolumn Reduction and Spiked Control. Anal Chem 2020; 93:1544-1552. [PMID: 33378175 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.0c03866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Mapping highly complicated disulfide linkages and free thiols via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS2) is challenging because of the difficulties in optimizing sample preparation to acquire critical MS data and detecting mispairings. Herein, we report a highly efficient and comprehensive workflow using an on-line UV-induced precolumn reduction tandem mass spectrometry (UV-LC-MS2) coupled with two-stage data analysis and spiked control. UV-LC-MS2 features a gradient run of acetonitrile containing a tunable percentage of photoinitiators (acetone/alcohol) that drives the sample to the MS through a UV-flow cell and reverse phase column to separate UV-induced products for subsequent fragmentation via low energy collision-induced dissociation. This allowed the alkylated thiol-containing and UV-reduced cysteine-containing peptides to be identified by a nontargeted database search. Expected or unexpected disulfide/thiol mapping was then carried out based on the search results, and data were derived from partially reduced species by photochemical reaction. Complete assignments of native and scrambled disulfide linkages of insulin, α-lactalbumin, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as well as the free C34-BSA were demonstrated using none or single enzyme digestion. This workflow was applied to characterize unknown disulfide/thiol patterns of the recombinant cyclophilin 1 monomer (rTvCyP1 mono) from the human pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis. α-Lactalbumin was judiciously chosen as a spiked control to minimize mispairings due to sample preparation. rTvCyP1 was determined to contain a high percentage of thiol (>80%). The rest of rTvCyP1 mono were identified to contain two disulfide/thiol patterns, of which C41-C169 linkage was confirmed to exist as C53-C181 in rTvCyP2, a homologue of rTvCyP1. This platform identifies heterogeneous protein disulfide/thiol patterns in a de-novo fashion with artifact control, opening up an opportunity to characterize crude proteins for many applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chin-Ming Kuo
- Department of Chemistry, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
| | - Shih-Yao Wei
- Department of Chemistry, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
| | - Shu-Han Du
- Department of Chemistry, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
| | - Jung-Lee Lin
- Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Chien-Hsin Chu
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | | | - Jung-Hsiang Tai
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan
| | - Shu-Hui Chen
- Department of Chemistry, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan
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Duivelshof BL, Murisier A, Camperi J, Fekete S, Beck A, Guillarme D, D'Atri V. Therapeutic Fc-fusion proteins: Current analytical strategies. J Sep Sci 2020; 44:35-62. [PMID: 32914936 DOI: 10.1002/jssc.202000765] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2020] [Revised: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Fc-Fusion proteins represent a successful class of biopharmaceutical products, with already 13 drugs approved in the European Union and United States as well as three biosimilar versions of etanercept. Fc-Fusion products combine tailored pharmacological properties of biological ligands, together with multiple functions of the fragment crystallizable domain of immunoglobulins. There is a great diversity in terms of possible biological ligands, including the extracellular domains of natural receptors, functionally active peptides, recombinant enzymes, and genetically engineered binding constructs acting as cytokine traps. Due to their highly diverse structures, the analytical characterization of Fc-Fusion proteins is far more complex than that of monoclonal antibodies and requires the use and development of additional product-specific methods over conventional generic/platform methods. This can be explained, for example, by the presence of numerous sialic acids, leading to high diversity in terms of isoelectric points and complex glycosylation profiles including multiple N- and O-linked glycosylation sites. In this review, we highlight the wide range of analytical strategies used to fully characterize Fc-fusion proteins. We also present case studies on the structural assessment of all commercially available Fc-fusion proteins, based on the features and critical quality attributes of their ligand-binding domains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bastiaan L Duivelshof
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Amarande Murisier
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Julien Camperi
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Szabolcs Fekete
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Alain Beck
- IRPF - Centre d'Immunologie Pierre-Fabre (CIPF), Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, France
| | - Davy Guillarme
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Valentina D'Atri
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.,Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Western Switzerland (ISPSO), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
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