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Branham PJ, Cooper HC, Williamson YM, Najjar FN, Sutton WJH, Pierce-Ruiz CL, Barr JR, Williams TL. An antibody-free evaluation of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Biologicals 2024; 85:101738. [PMID: 38096736 PMCID: PMC10961194 DOI: 10.1016/j.biologicals.2023.101738] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2023] [Revised: 12/01/2023] [Accepted: 12/04/2023] [Indexed: 03/26/2024] Open
Abstract
This manuscript describes the use of an analytical assay that combines transfection of mammalian cells and isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS) for accurate quantification of antigen expression. Expired mRNA COVID-19 vaccine material was stored at 4 °C, room temperature (∼25 °C), and 56 °C over a period of 5 weeks. The same vaccine was also exposed to 5 freeze-thaw cycles. Every week, the spike protein antigenic expression in mammalian (BHK-21) cells was evaluated. Housekeeping proteins, β-actin and GAPDH, were simultaneously quantified to account for the variation in cell counts that occurs during maintenance and growth of cell cultures. Data show that vaccine stored at elevated temperatures results in reduced spike protein expression. Also, maintaining the vaccine in ultracold conditions or exposing the vaccine to freeze-thaw cycles had less effect on the vaccine's ability to produce the antigen in mammalian cells. We describe the use of IDMS as an antibody-free means to accurately quantify expressed protein from mammalian cells transfected with mRNA vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul J Branham
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA
| | - Hans C Cooper
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA
| | - Yulanda M Williamson
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA
| | - Fabio N Najjar
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA
| | - William J H Sutton
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA
| | - Carrie L Pierce-Ruiz
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA
| | - John R Barr
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA
| | - Tracie L Williams
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, 30341, USA.
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Sutton WJH, Branham PJ, Williamson YM, Cooper HC, Najjar FN, Pierce-Ruiz CL, Barr JR, Williams TL. Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein expression from mRNA vaccines using isotope dilution mass spectrometry. Vaccine 2023:S0264-410X(23)00458-9. [PMID: 37202272 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.04.044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/17/2023] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
The advent of mRNA vaccine technology has been vital in rapidly creating and manufacturing COVID-19 vaccines at an industrial scale. To continue to accelerate this leading vaccine technology, an accurate method is needed to quantify antigens produced by the transfection of cells with a mRNA vaccine product. This will allow monitoring of protein expression during mRNA vaccine development and provide information on how changes to vaccine components affects the expression of the desired antigen. Developing novel approaches that allow for high-throughput screening of vaccines to detect changes in antigen production in cell culture prior to in vivo studies could aid vaccine development. We have developed and optimized an isotope dilution mass spectrometry method to detect and quantify the spike protein expressed after transfection of baby hamster kidney cells with expired COVID-19 mRNA vaccines. Five peptides of the spike protein are simultaneously quantified and provide assurance that protein digestion in the region of the target peptides is complete since results between the five peptides had a relative standard deviation of less than 15 %. In addition, two housekeeping proteins, actin and GAPDH, are quantified in the same analytical run to account for any variation in cell growth within the experiment. IDMS allows a precise and accurate means to quantify protein expression by mammalian cells transfected with an mRNA vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- William J H Sutton
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
| | - Paul J Branham
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
| | - Yulanda M Williamson
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
| | - Hans C Cooper
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
| | - Fabio N Najjar
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
| | - Carrie L Pierce-Ruiz
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
| | - John R Barr
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA
| | - Tracie L Williams
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
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Pierce-Ruiz C, Santana WI, Sutton WJH, Fischler DA, Cooper HC, Marc LR, Barr JR, Williams TL. Quantification of SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins using isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry. Vaccine 2021; 39:5106-5115. [PMID: 34344552 PMCID: PMC8302847 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.07.066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 07/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
The emergence and subsequent global outbreak of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 prompted our laboratory to launch efforts to develop methods for SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection and quantification. We present an isotope dilution mass spectrometry method (IDMS) for rapid and accurate quantification of the primary antigens, spike and nucleocapsid proteins. This IDMS method utilizes liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to analyze sample tryptic digests for detection and quantification of selected conserved peptides of SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins. The IDMS method has the necessary attributes to be successfully utilized for accurate quantification in SARS-CoV-2 protein-based vaccines and as targets of rapid diagnostic tests. Absolute quantification was achieved by quantifying and averaging 5 peptides for spike protein (3 peptides in the S1 subunit and 2 peptides in the S2 subunit) and 4 peptides for nucleocapsid protein. The overall relative standard deviation of the method was 3.67% for spike protein and 5.11% for nucleocapsid protein. IDMS offers speed (5 h total analysis time), sensitivity (LOQ; 10 fmol/µL) and precision for quantification of SARS-CoV-2 spike and nucleocapsid proteins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carrie Pierce-Ruiz
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
| | - Wanda I Santana
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
| | - William J H Sutton
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
| | - David A Fischler
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
| | - Hans C Cooper
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
| | - Lidoshka R Marc
- Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
| | - John R Barr
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
| | - Tracie L Williams
- National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341, USA.
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