Site-Specific Glycan Microheterogeneity Evaluation of Aflibercept Fusion Protein by Glycopeptide-Based LC-MSMS Mapping

Abstract

The evaluation of the protein glycosylation states of samples of aflibercept obtained from three different regions was conducted by site-specific N-linked glycan microheterogeneity profiling. Glycopeptide-based nano-LC MSMS mapping of tryptic-digested samples of each aflibercept lot provided site-specific information about glycan microheterogeneity on each of the five N-glycosylation sites (two sites in the VEGFR-1 region, two sites in the VEGFR-2 region, and one site in the human IgG Fc region). Next, the glycopeptide-mapping results obtained from the three different aflibercept lots were compared to evaluate the similarity between the samples. Three aflibercept lots showed a high degree of similarity in glycan composition, fucosylation level, sialylation level, and branching, when all five N-glycosylation sites were assessed together as a group. On the other hand, noticeable variations between lots in the glycan types and sialylation levels on the two sites of the VEGFR-2 domain were observed when each of the five N-glycosylation sites were assessed using the glycopeptide-based method. The presence of N-glycolylneuraminic acid (NeuGc) glycans, which may mediate adverse immune reactions in antibody therapeutics, were also detected on the sites of VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 domains, but not on the IgG Fc domain site. These results imply that analyses of the glycosylation profiles of fusion proteins containing multiple N-glycosylation sites, such as aflibercept, being done as a part of quality control for the therapeutics manufacturing process or for biosimilar development, can be done with a more applicable outcome by assessing each site separately.