Csaba Váradi

Rapid Magnetic Bead Based Sample Preparation for Automated and High Throughput N-Glycan Analysis of Therapeutic Antibodies

Full automation to enable high throughput N-glycosylation profiling and sequencing with good reproducibility is vital to fulfill the contemporary needs of the biopharmaceutical industry and requirements of national regulatory agencies. The most prevalently used glycoanalytical methods of capillary electrophoresis and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography, while very efficient, both necessitate extensive sample preparation and cleanup, including glycoprotein capture, N-glycan release, fluorescent derivatization, purification, and preconcentration steps during the process. Currently used protocols to fulfill these tasks require multiple centrifugation and vacuum-centrifugation steps, making liquid handling robot mediated automated sample preparation difficult and expensive. In this paper we report on a rapid magnetic bead based sample preparation approach that enables full automation including all the process phases just in a couple of hours without requiring any centrifugation and/or vacuum centrifugation steps. This novel protocol has been compared to conventional glycan sample preparation strategies using standard glycoproteins (IgG, fetuin, and RNase B) and featured rapid processing time, high release and labeling efficiency, good reproducibility, and the potential of easy automation.

Analysis of haptoglobin N‐glycome alterations in inflammatory and malignant lung diseases by capillary electrophoresis

A CE‐based method was introduced to compare the N‐glycosylation profile of haptoglobin in normal and pathologic conditions. To assess the biomarker potential of glycosylation changes in various lung diseases, haptoglobin was isolated from plasma samples of healthy, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer patients by means of two haptoglobin‐specific monoclonal antibodies. Haptoglobin N‐glycans were then enzymatically released, fluorescently labeled, and profiled by CE. Disease‐associated changes of core and antennary fucosylation were identified by targeted exoglycosidase digestions and their levels were compared in the different patient groups. Terms such as core‐ and arm‐fucosylation degree, as well as branching degree, were introduced for easier characterization of the changes and statistical analysis was used to examine which structures were responsible for the observed differences. Increased level of α1–6 fucosylated tri‐antennary glycans was found in all disease groups compared to the control. Elevated amounts of core‐ and arm‐fucosylation on tetra‐antennary glycans were detected in the lung cancer group compared to the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease group. A larger scale study is necessary to confirm and validate these preliminary findings in the glycosylation changes of haptoglobin, so could then be used as biomarkers in the diagnosis of malignant and inflammatory lung diseases.

Peripheral Blood Gene Expression and IgG Glycosylation Profiles as Markers of Tocilizumab Treatment in Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective. Tocilizumab, a humanized anti-interleukin-6 receptor monoclonal antibody, has recently been approved as a biological therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other diseases. It is not known if there are characteristic changes in gene expression and immunoglobulin G glycosylation during therapy or in response to treatment. Methods. Global gene expression profiles from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 13 patients with RA and active disease at Week 0 (baseline) and Week 4 following treatment were obtained together with clinical measures, serum cytokine levels using ELISA, and the degree of galactosylation of the IgG N-glycan chains. Gene sets separating responders and nonresponders were tested using canonical variates analysis. This approach also revealed important gene groups and pathways that differentiate responders from nonresponders. Results. Fifty-nine genes showed significant differences between baseline and Week 4 and thus correlated with treatment. Significantly, 4 genes determined responders after correction for multiple testing. Ten of the 12 genes with the most significant changes were validated using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. An increase in the terminal galactose content of N-linked glycans of IgG was observed in responders versus nonresponders, as well as in treated samples versus samples obtained at baseline. Conclusion. As a preliminary report, gene expression changes as a result of tocilizumab therapy in RA were examined, and gene sets discriminating between responders and nonresponders were found and validated. A significant increase in the degree of galactosylation of IgG N-glycans in patients with RA treated with tocilizumab was documented.

Multi-Site N-glycan mapping study 1: Capillary electrophoresis – laser induced fluorescence

An international team that included 20 independent laboratories from biopharmaceutical companies, universities, analytical contract laboratories and national authorities in the United States, Europe and Asia was formed to evaluate the reproducibility of sample preparation and analysis of N-glycans using capillary electrophoresis of 8-aminopyrene-1,3,6-trisulfonic acid (APTS)-labeled glycans with laser induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) detection (16 sites) and ultra high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC, 12 sites; results to be reported in a subsequent publication). All participants used the same lot of chemicals, samples, reagents, and columns/capillaries to run their assays. Migration time, peak area and peak area percent values were determined for all peaks with >0.1% peak area. Our results demonstrated low variability and high reproducibility, both, within any given site as well across all sites, which indicates that a standard N-glycan analysis platform appropriate for general use (clone selection, process development, lot release, etc.) within the industry can be established.

Quantitative twoplex glycan analysis using 12C6 and 13C6 stable isotope 2-aminobenzoic acid labelling and capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) offers excellent efficiency and orthogonality to liquid chromatographic (LC) separations for oligosaccharide structural analysis. Combination of CE with high resolution mass spectrometry (MS) for glycan analysis remains a challenging task due to the MS incompatibility of background electrolyte buffers and additives commonly used in offline CE separations. Here, a novel method is presented for the analysis of 2-aminobenzoic acid (2-AA) labelled glycans by capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE-MS). To ensure maximum resolution and excellent precision without the requirement for excessive analysis times, CE separation conditions including the concentration and pH of the background electrolyte, the effect of applied pressure on the capillary inlet and the capillary length were evaluated. Using readily available 12/13C6 stable isotopologues of 2-AA, the developed method can be applied for quantitative glycan profiling in a twoplex manner based on the generation of extracted ion electropherograms (EIE) for 12C6 ‘light’ and 13C6 ‘heavy’ 2-AA labelled glycan isotope clusters. The twoplex quantitative CE-MS glycan analysis platform is ideally suited for comparability assessment of biopharmaceuticals, such as monoclonal antibodies, for differential glycomic analysis of clinical material for potential biomarker discovery or for quantitative microheterogeneity analysis of different glycosylation sites within a glycoprotein. Additionally, due to the low injection volume requirements of CE, subsequent LC-MS analysis of the same sample can be performed facilitating the use of orthogonal separation techniques for structural elucidation or verification of quantitative performance.

Sample preparation for N-glycosylation analysis of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies by electrophoresis.

There are a considerable number of biopharmaceuticals that have been approved for clinical use in the past decade. Over half of these new generation drugs are glycoproteins, such as monoclonal antibodies or other recombinant glycoproteins, which are mostly produced in mammalian cell lines. The linked carbohydrate moieties affect not only their physicochemical properties and thermal stability but also crucial features like receptor-binding activity, circulating half-life, as well as immunogenicity. The structural diversity of these attached glycans can be manifested in altered monosaccharide composition and linkages/positions among the monosaccharide building blocks. In addition, as more and more biosimilar products hit the market, understanding the effects of their glycosylation modification has become a recent target in efficacy and safety issues. To ensure consistent quality of these products, glycosylation profiles have to be monitored and controlled in all steps of the manufacturing process, i.e., from clone selection to lot release. In this paper, we describe some of the recently introduced and commonly used sample preparation techniques for capillary electrophoresis (CE)-based profiling and structural elucidation of N-glycans. The presented protocols include protein A affinity partitioning of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), enzymatic release of the N-linked glycans, labeling of the liberated carbohydrates, reaction mixture purification techniques to remove the excess labeling reagent, and high-resolution and rapid capillary electrophoresis-laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF)-based profiling of the labeled and purified N-glycans.

Comparative glycoprofiling of HIV gp120 immunogens by capillary electrophoresis and MALDI mass spectrometry

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) envelope glycoprotein (Env) is the primary antigenic feature on the surface of the virus and is of key importance in HIV vaccinology. Vaccine trials with the gp120 subunit of Env are ongoing, with the recent RV144 trial showing moderate efficacy. gp120 is densely covered with N‐linked glycans that are thought to help evade the hosts humoral immune response. To assess how the global glycosylation patterns vary between gp120 constructs, the glycan profiles of several gp120s were examined by CE with LIF detection and MALDI‐MS. The glycosylation profiles were found to be similar for chronic versus transmitter/founder isolates and only varied moderately between gp120s from different clades. This study revealed that the addition of specific tags, such as the herpes simplex virus glycoprotein D tag used in the RV144 trial, had significant effects on the overall glycosylation patterns. Such effects are likely to influence the immunogenicity of various Env immunogens and should be considered for future vaccine strategies, emphasizing the importance of the glycosylation analysis approach described in this paper.

Combination of IgG N-glycomics and corresponding transcriptomics data to identify anti-TNF-α treatment responders in inflammatory diseases

Prediction of responsiveness in biological therapies is an important and challenging issue in different diseases. Analyzing glycosylation pattern changes of key serum glycoproteins is one of the possible avenues to follow disease remission. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes of serum IgG glycoforms in Crohns disease (CD) and rheumatoid arthritis patients in response to antitumor necrosis factor alpha (anti‐TNF‐α) treatment. IgG was isolated from patient serum samples using Protein A affinity pull‐down, followed by the release of N‐glycans with peptide‐N‐glycosidase F. The released glycans were fluorescently tagged with 8‐aminopyrene‐1,3,6‐trisulfonate and analyzed by CGE with laser‐induced fluorescent detection. Significant alterations were detected between responders and nonresponders in both disease groups. In CD patients, disease‐specific alteration was found in response to anti‐TNF‐α therapy, which was also confirmed by transcriptomics data analysis of the corresponding glycosyltransferases and glycosidases.

Multi-site N-Glycan mapping study 2: UHPLC

In the first part of this publication, the results from an international study evaluating the precision (i.e., repeatability and reproducibility) of N‐glycosylation analysis using capillary electrophoresis of APTS‐labeled N‐glycans were presented. The corresponding results from ultra‐high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with fluorescence detection are presented here from 12 participating sites. All participants used the same lot of samples, reagents, and columns to perform the assays. Elution time, peak area and peak area percent values were determined for all peaks ≥0.1% peak area, and statistical analysis was performed following ISO 5725‐2 guideline principles. The results demonstrated adequate reproducibility, within any given site as well across all sites, indicating that standard UHPLC‐based N‐glycan analysis platforms are appropriate for general use.

Stable Isotope Quantitative N -Glycan Analysis by Liquid Separation Techniques and Mass Spectrometry

Liquid phase separation analysis and subsequent quantitation remains a challenging task for protein-derived oligosaccharides due to their inherent structural complexity and diversity. Incomplete resolution or co-detection of multiple glycan species complicates peak area-based quantitation and associated statistical analysis when optical detection methods are used. The approach outlined herein describes the utilization of stable isotope variants of commonly used fluorescent tags that allow for mass-based glycan identification and relative quantitation following separation by liquid chromatography (LC) or capillary electrophoresis (CE). Comparability assessment of glycoprotein-derived oligosaccharides is performed by derivatization with commercially available isotope variants of 2-aminobenzoic acid or aniline and analysis by LC- and CE-mass spectrometry. Quantitative information is attained from the extracted ion chromatogram/electropherogram ratios generated from the light and heavy isotope clusters.