Separation Of Glycoforms Research Articles

Microseparation techniques coupled to mass spectrometry for a sensitive and unequivocal identification of glycopeptides

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) and low-flow liquid chromatography (i.e., micro, capillary, and nanoLC) both coupled to mass spectrometry (MS) are nowadays widely accepted for glycopeptide analysis. However, there are still analytical challenges related to the separation of glycopeptide glycoforms and their unequivocal identification. In the present study, CE-MS and capillary LC-MS (capLC-MS) were evaluated for a robust and high-throughput analysis of glycopeptides. Recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO) was selected as model glycoprotein due to its relevance as a biopharmaceutical and its high glycopeptide microheterogeneity. The CE-MS method provided adequate glycopeptide separation for those glycoforms differing in the number of sialic acids. However, the separation of glycoforms with the same sialic acid content but different glycan branching (number of antennas) was not achieved. In contrast, capLC-MS with an appropriate reversed phase C18 column enabled to improve their separation. Furthermore, the analysis of rhEPO glycopeptides with the established microseparation methods coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (CE-MS/MS and capLC-MS/MS) provided specific fragmentation patterns and a more reliable glycoform identification. The capLC-MS/MS method was the most promising as, it was able to detect and unequivocally identify a greater number of glycopeptide glycoforms compared to the CE-MS/MS method, including those with glycolylneuraminic acid, which are necessary to differentiate between endogenous and recombinant hEPO.Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD047106.

Glycoproteomics of a Single Protein: Revealing Tens of Thousands of Myozyme Glycoforms by Hybrid HPLC-MS Approaches

Characterization of highly glycosylated biopharma-ceuticals by mass spectrometry is challenging because of the huge chemical space of coexistent glycoforms present. Here, we report the use of an array of HPLC-mass spectrometry-based approaches at different structural levels of released glycan, glycopeptide, and hitherto unexplored intact glycoforms to scrutinize the biopharmaceutical Myozyme, containing the highly complex lysosomal enzyme recombinant acid α-glucosidase. The intrinsic heterogeneity of recombinant acid α-glucosidase glycoforms was unraveled using a novel strong anion exchange HPLC-mass spectrometry approach involving a pH-gradient of volatile buffers to facilitate chromatographic separation of glycoforms based on their degree of sialylation, followed by the acquisition of native mass spectra in an Orbitrap mass spectrometer. Upon considering the structures of 60 different glycans attached to seven glycosylation sites in the intact protein, the large set of interdependent data acquired at different structural levels was integrated using a set of bioinformatic tools and allowed the annotation of intact glycoforms unraveling more than 1,000,000 putative intact glycoforms. Detectable isoforms also included several mannose-6-phosphate variants, which are essential for directing the drug toward its target, the lysosomes. Finally, for the first time, we sought to validate the intact glycoform annotations by integrating experimental data on the enzymatically dissected proteoforms, which reduced the number of glycoforms supported by experimental evidence to 42,104. The latter verification clearly revealed the strengths but also intrinsic limitations of this approach for fully characterizing such highly complex glycoproteins by mass spectrometry.

Computer-aided gradient optimization of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatographic separations of intact proteins and protein glycoforms

Protein glycosylation is one of the most common and critical post-translational modification, which results from covalent attachment of carbohydrates to protein backbones. Glycosylation affects the physicochemical properties of proteins and potentially their function. Therefore it is important to establish analytical methods which can resolve glycoforms of glycoproteins. Recently, hydrophilic-interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)-mass spectrometry has demonstrated to be a useful tool for the efficient separation and characterization of intact protein glycoforms. In particular, amide-based stationary phases in combination with acetonitrile-water gradients containing ion-pairing agents, have been used for the characterization of glycoproteins. However, finding the optimum gradient conditions for glycoform resolution can be quite tedious as shallow gradients (small decrease of acetonitrile percentage in the elution solvent over a long time) are required. In the present study, the retention mechanism and peak capacity of HILIC for non-glycosylated and glycosylated proteins were investigated and compared to reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC). For both LC modes, ln k vs. φ plots of a series of test proteins were calculated using linear solvent strength (LSS) analysis. For RPLC, the plots were spread over a wider φ range than for HILIC, suggesting that HILIC methods require shallower gradients to resolve intact proteins. Next, the usefulness of computer-aided method development for the optimization of the separation of intact glycoform by HILIC was examined. Five retention models including LSS, adsorption, and mixed-mode, were tested to describe and predict glycoprotein retention under gradient conditions. The adsorption model appeared most suited and was applied to the gradient prediction for the separation of the glycoforms of six glycoproteins (Ides-digested trastuzumab, alpha-acid glycoprotein, ovalbumin, fetuin and thyroglobulin) employing the program PIOTR. Based on the results of three scouting gradients, conditions for high-efficiency separations of protein glycoforms varying in the degree and complexity of glycosylation was achieved, thereby significantly reducing the time needed for method optimization.

Complementary middle-down and intact monoclonal antibody proteoform characterization by capillary zone electrophoresis - mass spectrometry.

High-resolution capillary zone electrophoresis - mass spectrometry (CZE-MS) has been of increasing interest for the analysis of biopharmaceuticals. In this work, a combination of middle-down and intact CZE-MS analyses has been implemented for the characterization of a biotherapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) with a variety of post-translational modifications (PTMs) and glycosylation structures. Middle-down and intact CZE separations were performed in an acidified methanol-water background electrolyte on a capillary with a positively charged coating (M7C4I) coupled to an Orbitrap mass spectrometer using a commercial sheathless interface (CESI). Middle-down analysis of the IdeS-digested mAb provided characterization of PTMs of digestion fragments. High resolution CZE enabled separation of charge variants corresponding to 2X-deamidated, 1X-deamidated, and non-deamidated forms at baseline resolution. In the course of the middle-down CZE-MS analysis, separation of glycoforms of the FC /2 fragment was accomplished due to hydrodynamic volume differences. Several identified PTMs were confirmed by CZE-MS2 . Incorporation of TCEP-HCl reducing agent in the sample solvent resulted in successful analysis of reduced forms without the need for alkylation. CZE-MS studies on the intact mAb under denaturing conditions enabled baseline separation of the 2X-glycosylated, 1X-glycosylated, and aglycosylated populations as a result of hydrodynamic volume differences. The presence of a trace quantity of dissociated light chain was also detected in the intact protein analysis. Characterization of the mAb under native conditions verified identifications achieved via intact analysis and allowed for quantitative confirmation of proteoforms. Analysis of mAbs using CZE-MS represents a complementary approach to the more conventional liquid-chromatography - mass spectrometry-based approaches.

Potential of hydrophilic interaction chromatography for the analytical characterization of protein biopharmaceuticals

A new stationary phase based on wide-pore hybrid silica bonded with amide ligand has been used to explore the utility of HILIC for the analytical characterization of protein biopharmaceuticals. Various, highly-relevant samples were tested, including different insulins, interferon α-2b and trastuzumab. This work shows that HILIC can be successfully employed for the analysis of therapeutic proteins and mAbs, using mobile phase compositions comprised of between 65 and 80% ACN and 0.1% TFA. In terms of elution order and selectivity, these HILIC separations have proven to be highly orthogonal to RPLC, while the kinetic performance remains comparable. In the case of characterizing trastuzumab, HILIC was uniquely able to resolve several important glycoforms at the middle-up level of analysis (fragments of 25–100kDa). Such a separation of glycoforms has been elusive by other separation mechanisms, such as RPLC and IEX. Besides showing orthogonality to RPLC and improved separations of glycoforms, HILIC offers several additional benefits for biopharmaceutical characterization: i) an inherent compatibility with MS, ii) a reduced requirement for very high mobile phase temperatures that are otherwise needed in RPLC to limit undesirably strong adsorption to the surface of the stationary phase, and iii) the possibility to couple several columns in series to improve resolving power, thanks to comparatively low mobile phase viscosity.

Study of the feasibility of using a pellicular anion-exchange column for separation of transferrin isoforms in human serum by HPLC with UV detection.

A method has been optimised for the separation of glycoforms of human serum transferrin, using a high-performance pellicular anion-exchange chromatographic column. The effect of the eluent pH and of the column temperature on the separation of transferrin glycoforms was studied using a standard solution of commercially available human serum transferrin. An HPLC system equipped with an ultraviolet detector was used for the analysis. No immunoassay was used after the anion-exchange chromatographic separation of the glycoforms, in contrast with most currently used methods. The method was applied to the separation and quantification of transferrin glycoforms in serum from a healthy, non-pregnant woman, after saturation of transferrin with iron and further precipitation of lipoproteins. The whole chromatographic run, including re-equilibration of the column, took 35 min.

Improved HPLC method for carbohydrate-deficient transferrin in serum.

There is need for a reference method for transferrin glycoforms in serum to which routine immunologic methods for the alcohol marker carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) can be traceable. We describe an improved HPLC method for transferrin glycoforms. Transferrin was iron-saturated by mixing the serum with ferric nitrilotriacetic acid, and lipoproteins were precipitated with dextran sulfate and calcium chloride. Separation of glycoforms was performed on a SOURCE 15Q anion-exchange column using salt gradient elution. Quantification relied on selective absorbance of the iron-transferrin complex at 470 nm. The relative amount of each glycoform was calculated as a percentage of the area under the curve, using baseline integration. The HPLC system provided reproducible separation and quantification of the asialo-, monosialo-, disialo-, trisialo-, tetrasialo-, pentasialo-, and hexasialotransferrin glycoforms. Most importantly, disialo- and trisialotransferrin were almost baseline separated. The intra- and interassay CV for disialotransferrin were <5%. Serum and the pretreated samples were stable for at least 2 days at 22 or 4 degrees C. Sera from 132 healthy controls contained [mean (SD)] 1.16 (0.25)% disialotransferrin, 4.77 (1.36)% trisialotransferrin, 80.18 (2.01)% tetrasialotransferrin, and 13.88 (1.69)% pentasialo- + hexasialotransferrin. In some cases of a high (>6%) trisialotransferrin, monosialotransferrin was detected at <0.25%. Asialotransferrin was not detected in control sera, but was detected in 57% of chronic heavy drinkers and in 62% of sera with >/=2% disialotransferrin. The HPLC method fulfills the requirements of a preliminary reference method for CDT and should work for any combination of serum transferrin glycoforms. This method could also be useful for confirming positive CDT results by immunoassays in medico-legal cases.

Separation of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin Glycoforms by Capillary Electrophoresis Using Volatile Electrolytes. Assessment of Mass Spectrometry for the Characterization of Erythropoietin Glycoforms

The separation of the glycoforms of erythropoietin (EPO) by capillary electrophoresis (CE) was recently published as a monograph by the European Pharmacopoeia (European Pharmacopoeia 4 2002, 1316, 1123-1128). Although the experimental CE conditions employed a background electrolyte containing additives suitable for on-line UV-absorption detection, they were not appropriate for on-line mass spectrometry (MS) detection. In this work, an attempt was made to investigate experimental conditions employing volatile electrolyte systems to achieve the separation and characterization of EPO glycoforms using CE and ESI-MS methodologies. The influence of several operating conditions, such as the coating of the internal walls of the capillary as well as the composition, concentration, and the pH of the separation buffer were investigated. The results demonstrated that when the internal walls of the capillaries were permanently coated with Polybrene and a buffer electrolyte containing 400 mM of HAc-NH4Ac (acetic acid-ammonium acetate), pH 4.75, was used, a significantly reproducible separation was achieved for EPO glycoforms. Intact EPO was characterized by two mass spectrometry techniques: electrospray ionization (ESI-MS) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF-MS). The data demonstrated that MALDI-TOF-MS provided a good approximation to an average molecular mass of the EPO molecule. However, it was still necessary to carry out further separation of the intact EPO glycoforms in order to obtain molecular mass information when ESI-MS was used.

Collection of α 1-acid glycoprotein molecular species by capillary electrophoresis and the analysis of their molecular masses and carbohydrate chains : Basic studies on the analysis of glycoprotein glycoforms

A highly heterogeneous glycoprotein, α 1-acid glycoprotein, was resolved into their glycoforms by capillary electrophoresis using a surface-modified capillary in 20 m M acetate buffer (pH 4.2) containing 0.5% (w/v) hydroxypropylmethylcellulose. We collected the fractions containing each glycoform as nearly pure state by capillary electrophoresis, and examined the molecular masses of these glycoforms by matrix assisted laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry. We also analyzed carbohydrate chains after releasing them with N-glycosidase F followed by fluorescent labeling with 8-aminopyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonate. We found that the separation of glycoforms was mostly due to the presence of multiantennary carbohydrate chains. We propose that the present technique is useful for the analysis of post translational modification of proteins with carbohydrate chains.

Comparative study on the distribution of ovalbumin glycoforms by capillary electrophoresis

Two commercial turkey egg ovalbumins (TEOs) with different quantities of mannose, were further purified by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for either of the purified glycoproteins showed one big wide band and one close small band. Capillary electrophoresis was used for the investigation of the separation of glycoforms of both glycoproteins. The best resolution of the glycoforms was obtained, reproducibly, with 100 m M borate, 1.8 m M 1,4-diaminobutane and pH 8.6 electrophoretic buffer. At least 13 glycoform peaks could be separated for either of the two glycoproteins. Their glycoform patterns were highly similar except for the conspicuous decrease in quantity of four glycoforms in the ovalbumin containing less mannose, compared to that of the other with more mannose. Coinjection electrophoresis of the two glycoproteins indicated that almost every glycoform peak of the former exactly overlapped with its corresponding glycoform peak of the latter. These results clearly indicated that the two TEOs possessed the same glycoform patterns but differed in quantity at least four glycoforms. It was found that the glycoform patterns were remarkably different between TEO and chicken egg ovalbumin.

Direct isoform analysis of high-mannose-containing glycoproteins by on-line capillary electrophoresis electrospray mass spectrometry.

A method for the analysis of high-mannose glycoproteins based on capillary electrophoresis and electrospray mass spectrometry (CE−ESI MS) was developed. The combination of UV and MS data allowed for the determination of the identities of glycoform peaks separated by CE, using molecular weight information obtained by ESI MS. The method does not require oligosaccharide release or derivatization, and is applicable for neutral glycans such as high-mannose structures. Two high mannose-containing proteins, ribonuclease B (RNase B) and recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2), were used as examples to demonstrate the utility of this technique. Microheterogeneity observed in the CE−UV separation of glycoforms was accounted for by the reconstructed ion chromatograms in ESI MS. Carbohydrate-specific reporter ions generated by in-source fragmentation of the intact proteins during ESI was compared to the chromatographic UV results. This analysis may prove to be a useful qualitative or semiquantitative...

Capillary Electrophoretic Separation of Human Recombinant Erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) Glycoforms

Free zone capillary electrophoresis was investigated for the separation of glycoforms in recombinant erythropoietin (r-HuEPO). Reduction of electroendoosmotic flow through the addition of 1,4-diaminobutane and in the presence of urea resulted in optimum separation of all of the major glycoforms. Incubation of r-HuEPO with neuraminidase caused the slowest migrating species to diminish first in response, indicating that these contained the highest numbers of sialic acids. Additional evidence was obtained from spiking r-HuEPO with individual glycoforms isolated by preparative isoelectric focusing. These results indicate that the separation occurs in a predictable manner in order of increasing number of sialic acids contained in the glycoforms. As a consequence, the electropherograms provide the same information as that obtained from conventional gel isoelectric focusing, although separating by a different mechanism.