Evaluation of recombinant human interferon α-2b structure and stability by in-gel tryptic digestion, H/D exchange and mass spectrometry

Molecularly imprinted cryogel cartridges for the specific filtration and rapid separation of interferon alpha

Molecularly imprinted cryogel-based specific filtration cartridges for highly selective, repeatable and fast interferon α-2b separation even if under competitive conditions.

Formulation and stability of cytokine therapeutics

Cytokines are messenger proteins that regulate the proliferation and differentiation of cells and control immune responses. Interferons, interleukins, and growth factors have applications in cancer, autoimmune, and viral disease treatment. The cytokines are susceptible to chemical and physical instability. This article reviews the structure and stability issues of clinically used cytokines, as well as formulation strategies for improved stability. Some general aspects for identifying most probable stability concerns, selecting excipients, and developing stable cytokine formulations are presented. The vast group of cytokines offers possibilities for new biopharmaceuticals. The formulation approaches of the current cytokine products could facilitate development of new biopharmaceuticals.

Influence of carbohydrates on the stability and structure of a hyperglycosylated human interferon alpha mutein

Protein physical and chemical instability is one of the major challenges in the development of biopharmaceuticals during every step of the process, ranging from production to final delivery. This is particularly applicable to human recombinant interferon alpha-2b (rhIFN-alpha2b), a pleiotropic cytokine currently used worldwide for the treatment of various cancer and chronic viral diseases, which presents a poor stability in solution. In previous studies, we have demonstrated that the introduction of four N-glycosylation sites in order to construct a heavily glycosylated IFN variant (4N-IFN) resulted in a markedly prolonged plasma half-life which was reflected in an enhanced therapeutic activity in mice in comparison with the commercial non-glycosylated rhIFN-alpha2b (NG-IFN). Herein, we evaluated the influence of glycosylation on the in vitro stability of 4N-IFN towards different environmental conditions. Interestingly, the hyperglycosylated cytokine showed enhanced stability against thermal stress, acid pH and repetitive freeze-thawing cycles in comparison with NG-IFN. Besides, microcalorimetric analysis indicated a much higher melting temperature of 4N-IFN, also demonstrating a higher solubility of this variant as denoted by the absence of precipitation at the end of the experiment, in contrast with the NG-IFN behaviour. Furthermore, far-UV circular dichroism (CD) spectrum of 4N-IFN was virtually superimposed with that of NG-IFN, indicating that the IFN structure was not altered by the addition of carbohydrate moieties. The same conclusion could be inferred from limited proteolysis studies. Our results suggest that glycoengineering could be a useful strategy for protecting rhIFN-alpha2b from inactivation by various external factors and for overcoming aggregation problems during the production process and storage.

Physicochemical and biological assays for quality control of biopharmaceuticals: interferon alpha-2 case study

A selection of physicochemical and biological assays were investigated for their utility in detecting changes in preparations of Interferon alpha-2a and Interferon alpha-2b (IFN-alpha 2a, IFN-alpha 2b), which had been subjected to stressed conditions, in order to create models of biopharmaceutical products containing product-related impurities. The stress treatments, which included oxidation of methionine residues and storage at elevated temperatures for different periods of time, were designed to induce various degrees of degradation, aggregation or oxidation of the interferon. Biological activity of the stressed preparations was assessed in three different in vitro cell-based bioassay systems: a late-stage anti-proliferative assay and early-stage assays measuring reporter gene activation or endogenous gene expression by quantitative real time Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). Relevant physicochemical methods such as SDS-PAGE, reverse phase (RP) chromatography, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and dynamic light scattering (DLS), proved their complementarity in detecting structural changes in the stressed preparations which were reflected by reductions in biological activity.

'On-the-fly' hydrogen/deuterium exchange liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry using a dual-sprayer atmospheric pressure ionisation source

In-source 'on-the-fly' hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) has been investigated. The work was performed using a dual-sprayer source. The analyte was introduced through an electrospray ionisation sprayer and D2O was introduced through an atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation sprayer. To achieve H/D exchange sufficient to determine the number of exchangeable H atoms of a compound, a saturated 'steady-state' D2O atmosphere had to be created in the ion source by having a 2:1 or higher D2O-to-analyte flow rate ratio. Under these conditions H/D exchange levels of 32-90% were achieved. In most cases the H/D exchange was sufficient to measure the number of exchangeable H atoms in some antiulcerative and anthelmintic pharmaceuticals. The concept of in-source 'on-the-fly' H/D exchange by introducing the deuterating agent via a second sprayer has been shown. It allows the integrity of the chromatographic separation to be kept, since the H/D exchange takes place post-separation.