mAb Purification Research Articles

Significant Improvements in the Performance of an Established Affinity Chromatography Procedure Employed to Purify a Monoclonal Antibody in 100 Purification Cycles

Protein A-Sepharose affinity chromatography is a very successful method for the purification of immunoglobulins for pharmaceutical use. However, the chromatography efficiency and lifetime of this method have to be always adjusted to specific chromatography conditions (biological source, buffers, flow rates, antibody properties, temperature, protein concentration, cleaning protocol, etc). This study sought to demonstrate improvements in the performance of an established affinity chromatography procedure employed to purify the CB.Hep-1 monoclonal antibody (mAb) used in the purification of the active pharmaceutical ingredient of a Hepatitis B vaccine. In conclusion, the relative poor mAb recovery observed in 150 mM PBS; pH 8.0/100 mM citric acid; pH 3.0 buffer system conditions was attributed to the inefficacy of the elution buffer to disrupt completely interactions between the matrix and mAb. In this regard, retention of the CB.Hep-1 mAb into the matrix was helped by the ligand coupled to the matrix and not by unspecific interactions. The 1.5M glycine-NaOH/3M NaCl; pH 9.0/200 mM glycine-HCl; pH 2.5 buffer system significantly improved the affinity chromatography recovery without affecting mAb purity, molecular homogeneity, ligand leakage and mouse DNA content in 100 purification cycles. Thus, application of 1.5M glycine-NaOH/3M NaCl; pH 9.0/200 mM glycine-HCl; pH 2.5 as buffer system allowed the reduction of the CB.Hep-1 mAb and Hepatitis B vaccine costs, respectively.

Two step capture and purification of IgG2 using multicolumn countercurrent solvent gradient purification (MCSGP)

A two-step chromatography process for monoclonal antibody (mAb) purification from clarified cell culture supernatant (cCCS) was developed using cation exchange Multicolumn Countercurrent Solvent Gradient Purification (MCSGP) as a capture step. After an initial characterization of the cell culture supernatant the capture step was designed from a batch gradient elution chromatogram. A variety of chromatographic materials was screened for polishing of the MCSGP-captured material in batch mode. Using multi-modal anion exchange in bind-elute mode, mAb was produced consistently within the purity specification. The benchmark was a state-of-the-art 3-step chromatographic process based on protein A, anion and cation exchange stationary phases. The performance of the developed 2-step process was compared to this process in terms of purity, yield, productivity and buffer consumption. Finally, the potential of the MCSGP process was investigated by comparing its performance to that of a classical batch process that used the same stationary phase.

Development, validation, and implementation of capillary gel electrophoresis as a replacement for SDS‐PAGE for purity analysis of IgG2 mAbs

Capillary gel electrophoresis (CGE) methods with UV detection were developed for reduced and non-reduced mAb analysis. These methods can be used to evaluate mAb purity, offering more reproducible quantitation compared with that of traditional SDS-PAGE methods. These CGE methods have been utilized as platform technology for bioprocess development, formulation development, mAb characterization, drug substance/drug product release testing as well as a required methodology for stability testing. We have found these CGE methods to be applicable across a platform of mAbs in preclinical and clinical development, with the majority of mAbs requiring no modification to the method conditions. This methodology has been ICH validated and transferred to several supporting organizations. The data presented herein describes the development of CGE methodology, platform application to mAb purity analysis, ICH validation, reliability metrics, and considerations on technology enhancement for improved performance and throughput.

Weak partitioning chromatography for anion exchange purification of monoclonal antibodies

Weak partitioning chromatography (WPC) is an isocratic chromatographic protein separation method performed under mobile phase conditions where a significant amount of the product protein binds to the resin, well in excess of typical flowthrough operations. The more stringent load and wash conditions lead to improved removal of more tightly binding impurities, although at the cost of a reduction in step yield. The step yield can be restored by extending the column load and incorporating a short wash at the end of the load stage. The use of WPC with anion exchange resins enables a two-column cGMP purification platform to be used for many different mAbs. The operating window for WPC can be easily established using high throughput batch-binding screens. Under conditions that favor very strong product binding, competitive effects from product binding can give rise to a reduction in column loading capacity. Robust performance of WPC anion exchange chromatography has been demonstrated in multiple cGMP mAb purification processes. Excellent clearance of host cell proteins, leached Protein A, DNA, high molecular weight species, and model virus has been achieved.

Purification of monoclonal antibody from tobacco extract using membrane-based bioseparation techniques

Transgenic plants offer a promising system for large-scale production of therapeutic proteins such as monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). This paper describes a membrane-based process suitable for purification of a humanized mAb expressed in tobacco. Most monoclonal antibody purification schemes rely on the use of Protein A as the affinity ligand for antibody capture. The main objective of our work was to develop non-Protein A-based purification methods to avoid some of the problems and limitations associated with this ligand, e.g. cost, immunotoxicity, and antibody aggregation during elution. Ion exchange membrane chromatography (IEMC) was used for primary capture and preliminary purification of the mAb from tobacco juice. Hydrophobic interaction membrane chromatography (HIMC) was then used for high-resolution purification, followed by ultrafiltration for polishing, desalting and buffer exchange. Using this scheme, both high mAb purity (single peak in size exclusion chromatogram, i.e., ca. 100% purity) and high recovery (77% of mAb spiked into the tobacco extract) were achieved. Membrane chromatography is generally considered unsuitable for resolving bound proteins by gradient elution and is therefore commonly used in the bind and elute mode with a single-step change of mobile phase. We show that the gradient elution process in the HIMC step can be optimized to increase the resolution and thereby obtain product of high purity.

High‐throughput screening of chromatographic separations: IV. Ion‐exchange

Ion-exchange (IEX) chromatography steps are widely applied in protein purification processes because of their high capacity, selectivity, robust operation, and well-understood principles. Optimization of IEX steps typically involves resin screening and selection of the pH and counterion concentrations of the load, wash, and elution steps. Time and material constraints associated with operating laboratory columns often preclude evaluating more than 20-50 conditions during early stages of process development. To overcome this limitation, a high-throughput screening (HTS) system employing a robotic liquid handling system and 96-well filterplates was used to evaluate various operating conditions for IEX steps for monoclonal antibody (mAb) purification. A screening study for an adsorptive cation-exchange step evaluated eight different resins. Sodium chloride concentrations defining the operating boundaries of product binding and elution were established at four different pH levels for each resin. Adsorption isotherms were measured for 24 different pH and salt combinations for a single resin. An anion-exchange flowthrough step was then examined, generating data on mAb adsorption for 48 different combinations of pH and counterion concentration for three different resins. The mAb partition coefficients were calculated and used to estimate the characteristic charge of the resin-protein interaction. Host cell protein and residual Protein A impurity levels were also measured, providing information on selectivity within this operating window. The HTS system shows promise for accelerating process development of IEX steps, enabling rapid acquisition of large datasets addressing the performance of the chromatography step under many different operating conditions.

Comparison of standard and new generation hydrophobic interaction chromatography resins in the monoclonal antibody purification process

Recent efforts to improve hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) for use in monoclonal antibody (mAb) purification have focused on two approaches: optimization of resin pore size to facilitate mAb mass transport, and use of novel hydrophobic charge induction (HCIC) mixed mode ligands that allow capture of mAbs under low salt conditions. We evaluated standard HIC and new generation HIC and HIC-related chromatography resins for mAb purification process efficiency and product quality both as isolated chromatography steps and in purification process trains. We find that HIC resins with optimized pore size have significantly improved binding capacity which can increase HIC purification unit operation efficiency. The HCIC Mercapto-Ethyl-Pyridine (MEP) resin, which shows a different salt impact trend and impurity resolution pattern from standard HIC resin, can not only capture mAb from crude CHO fermentation supernatant but also substantially enhance mAb purification process flow efficiency when serving as a polishing role.

Endotoxin reduction in monoclonal antibody preparations using arginine

A monoclonal antibody preparation was found to be contaminated with endotoxin. Several commercial endotoxin removal steps were attempted but failed to produce a significant reduction due to the fact that the endotoxin was associated with the antibody. Here, several methods for endotoxin removal based on immobilizing monoclonal antibodies to chromatographic media have been evaluated. A crucial step in this process was to dissociate the endotoxin from the protein surface for subsequent removal. This was accomplished by introducing different buffer additives in the mobile phase. In agreement with previous reports, non-ionic detergents efficiently removed endotoxin, but it was also found that 0.5 M arginine performed equally well. Since arginine is a non-toxic common amino acid that can be readily removed, it was selected and successfully used in large-scale experiments. With this method, endotoxin could be reduced to <0.2 EU mg −1 with recovery of the target protein being >95%. Since this procedure is easily integrated into the existing processes of mAb purification, it offers advantages in speed, cost and effort.

Purification of humanized monoclonal antibody by hydrophobic interaction membrane chromatography

Humanized monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) hold significant promise as biopharmaceuticals. One of the main challenges faced in the purification of mAbs is their separation from bovine serum albumin, which is the main protein present in most mammalian cell culture media. This paper discusses the purification of humanized mAb hIgG1-CD4 from CHO cell culture media by hydrophobic interaction membrane chromatography using a stack of microporous synthetic membranes. The effects of solution conditions on mAb solubility and binding on the membrane were first studied. The separation of a simulated mixture of bovine albumin and the mAb was then carried out to examine the feasibility of mAb purification. Separation experiments carried out under optimized conditions demonstrated that this membrane-based technique could be used for mAb purification from cell culture media. High purity (97%) and recovery (in excess of 97%) were obtained.

Dialysis-based bioreactor systems for the production of monoclonal antibodies—alternatives to ascites production in mice

Two commercially available bioreactor systems, CELLine and miniPERM™, were evaluated for their ability to support the production of monoclonal antibody (mAb) from a variety of murine hybridoma cell lines. Production and purity of mAbs were compared between the two systems and with mouse ascites tumour fluid generation. The quality and purity of the mAb generated by each method was analysed on SDS-PAGE gels and the antibody immunoreactivity in each case was quantified by indirect ELISA tests. The relative benefits of conventional growth medium (Dulbecco's modified Eagle's media, DMEM) and serum-free medium (hybridoma serum-free media, H-SFM) using the miniPERM™ system were also analysed, in terms of the amount of antibody produced, cell concentration and specific antibody titre. In all cases, the CELLine units tested gave higher protein concentrations compared to the miniPERM™ system under the same conditions (means and 95% confidence limits are 4.2±0.8 and 2.1±0.8 mg/ml, respectively), yet the miniPERM™ system yielded greater total amounts over a similar culture period (428.7±243.3 mg compared to 183.3±100.9 mg in the CL-350 CELLine unit). When defined by specific ELISA titre, both bioreactor systems yielded mAb levels that compared favourably with those derived from ascites. In addition, SDS-PAGE analysis indicated that the bioreactor antibody product was relatively free of contaminating protein, whereas ascites tumour fluid preparations displayed significant levels of extraneous protein. This study has shown that both bioreactor systems are acceptable in vitro alternatives to the in vivo production of mAbs in mice.

Isolation of monoclonal antibodies from cell containing hybridoma broth using a protein A coated adsorbent in expanded beds

A novel expanded bed adsorbent carrying a recombinant protein A ligand was used for the isolation of monoclonal antibodies from cell containing hybridoma fermentation broth. The untreated effluent from a continuous hybridoma cultivation was applied to the stable expanded adsorbent (Streamline rProteinA), which proved to have a high capacity for the MAb studied (14 mg MAb per ml of adsorbent). A clarified and highly concentrated (up to 50 fold) eluate of high purity was obtained. A scale up of the MAb purification is demonstrated from lab scale (250 mg MAb per purification cycle) to a small pilot scale (2 g MAb per cycle). Low product concentration in the broth in combination with the high capacity of the adsorbent caused long sample application cycles (10–11 h). Experimental problems arising from these long cycle times are discussed with regard to a large scale application of the method.

Purification of fibrin-specific monoclonal antibody from ascites fluid by preparative isoelectric focusing

With the increased use of site-directed monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) for the detection and localization of antigens (Ags) in vivo, an efficient, noninjurious MAb purification procedure is essential [1–9]. In this study MAb was purified by both immunoaffinity chromatography (IAFC) and preparative isoelectric focusing (PIEF). For anti-fibrin MAb purified by each method, the purification efficiency, blood clearance, and in vivo localization in thrombi were compared. Blood clearance rates and in vivo localization were determined by a double isotope assay: affinity-purified MAb was labeled with I-125, and PIEF-purified MAb was labeled with I-131. Both were injected intravenously into a dog with an experimentally induced femoral vein thrombus. MAb purified by PIEF had a slightly longer biological T 1 2 resulting in comparably higher thrombus localization. Due to its efficiency, PIEF warrants consideration when purified MAb is desired.