title: In-depth qualitative and quantitative analysis of composite glycosylation profiles and other micro-heterogeneity on intact monoclonal antibodies by high-resolution native mass spectrometry using a modified Orbitrap.
abstract: Here, we describe a fast, easy-to-use, and sensitive method to profile in-depth structural micro-heterogeneity, including intricate N-glycosylation profiles, of monoclonal antibodies at the native intact protein level by means of mass spectrometry using a recently introduced modified Orbitrap Exactive Plus mass spectrometer. We demonstrate the versatility of our method to probe structural micro-heterogeneity by describing the analysis of three types of molecules: (1) a non-covalently bound IgG4 hinge deleted full-antibody in equilibrium with its half-antibody, (2) IgG4 mutants exhibiting highly complex glycosylation profiles, and (3) antibody-drug conjugates. Using the modified instrument, we obtain baseline separation and accurate mass determination of all different proteoforms that may be induced, for example, by glycosylation, drug loading and partial peptide backbone-truncation. We show that our method can handle highly complex glycosylation profiles, identifying more than 20 different glycoforms per monoclonal antibody preparation and more than 30 proteoforms on a single highly purified antibody. In analyzing antibody-drug conjugates, our method also easily identifies and quantifies more than 15 structurally different proteoforms that may result from the collective differences in drug loading and glycosylation. The method presented here will aid in the comprehensive analytical and functional characterization of protein micro-heterogeneity, which is crucial for successful development and manufacturing of therapeutic antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics; Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Utrecht University; Utrecht, the Netherlands; Netherlands Proteomics Center; Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rosati
authors.affiliation: Genmab; Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ewald T J
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: van den Bremer
authors.affiliation: Genmab; Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Janine
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schuurman
authors.affiliation: Genmab; Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paul W H I
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Parren
authors.affiliation: Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics; Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Utrecht University; Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johannis P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Kamerling
authors.affiliation: Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics; Bijvoet Center for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences; Utrecht University; Utrecht, the Netherlands; Netherlands Proteomics Center; Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: Albert J R
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Heck
mesh_terms: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D006031:Glycosylation; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000145:classification; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D007074:Immunoglobulin G
keywords: antibody-drug conjugates; biopharmaceuticals; biosimilars; glycosylation; monoclonal antibodies; native mass spectrometry; protein micro-heterogeneity; proteoforms