Leveraging light chain binding avidity for control of mispaired byproducts during production of asymmetric bispecific antibodies.

Many biotherapeutic formats leverage antibody light chain affinity chromatography to enable robust manufacturing processes and to streamline process development. These include multi-specific antibody and antibody fragment platforms which are often designed for specific capture purification methods that can provide efficient removal of commonly expressed product-related impurities. Recently, several accounts of product-related impurity separation by leveraging binding avidity during affinity chromatography have been described in the literature. However, a more comprehensive evaluation of avidity-based separations, particularly for light chain affinity media with specificity for constant regions of antibody light chains, is valuable for development of emerging multi-specific and fragment antibody formats. Results in this work demonstrate the capability of camelid antibody-based light chain affinity media to separate asymmetric bispecific antibody heterodimers from impurities possessing more than one light chain of the same class that the media binds to, including mispaired variants, aggregates, and fragment impurities. Largest resolution for respective mispaired species were provided by CaptureSelect KappaXP and LambdaXP chromatography media. The addition of elution modifiers provided increased impurity separation, with CaptureSelect KappaXP requiring up to 500 mM concentrations of elution modifiers to produce substantial improvements to resolution, and LambdaXP showing much higher sensitivity. Isocratic elution methods developed for lambda light chain affinity chromatography media provided near complete removal of mispaired variants, and substantial removal of aggregates and fragment impurities. Addition of just 20 mM of elution modifiers such as NaCl are shown to drive increased binding strength and separation of heterodimer species from impurities on CaptureSelect LambdaXP. These results provide scalable and transferable methods for product-related impurity control for various biotherapeutic modalities by lambda light chain affinity chromatography.

Identification of compendial nonionic detergents for the replacement of Triton X-100 in bioprocessing.

We have systematically investigated six compendial nonionic detergents as potential replacements for Triton ×-100 in bioprocessing applications. Use of compendial raw materials in cGMP bioprocessing is advantageous for a variety of reasons including material specifications developed to meet stringent pharmaceutical product quality requirements, regulatory familiarity and comfort, and availability from vendors experienced supplying the biopharmaceutical industry. We first examine material properties of the detergents themselves including melting point and viscosity. Process performance and product contact in real-world bioprocess applications are then investigated. Lastly, we test the detergents in virus inactivation (VI) experiments with recombinant proteins and adeno-associated virus. Two of the detergents tested, PEG 9 Lauryl Ether and PEG 6 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides, showed favorable properties that make them attractive for use as potential Triton X-100 replacements. Process performance testing indicated negligible impact of the detergents on product yield, purity, and activity compared to a control with no detergent. Importantly, both PEG 9 Lauryl Ether and PEG 6 Caprylic/Capric Glycerides demonstrated very fast VI kinetics with complete inactivation of XMuLV observed in less than 1 min at a target 1% detergent concentration. Potential advantages and disadvantages of both candidate detergents for use in cGMP bioprocessing are summarized and discussed.

Systematic workflow for studying domain contributions of bispecific antibodies to selectivity in multimodal chromatography.

In this article, a systematic workflow was formulated and implemented to understand selectivity differences and preferred binding patches for bispecific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and their parental mAbs on three multimodal cation exchange resin systems. This workflow incorporates chromatographic screening of the parent mAbs and their fragments at various pH followed by surface property mapping and protein footprinting using covalent labeling followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. The chromatography screens on multimodal resins with the intact mAbs indicated enhanced selectivity as compared to single-mode interaction systems. While the bispecific antibody (bsAb) eluted between the two parental mAbs on most of the resins, the retention of the bispecific transitioned from co-eluting with one parental mAb to the other parental mAb on Capto MMC. To investigate the contribution of different domains, mAb fragments were evaluated and the results indicated that the interactions were likely dominated by the Fab domain at higher pH. Protein surface property maps were then employed to hypothesize the potential preferred binding patches in the solvent-exposed regions of the parental Fabs. Finally, protein footprinting was carried out with the parental mAbs and the bsAb in the bound and unbound states at pH 7.5 to identify the preferred binding patches. Results with the intact mAb analysis supported the hypothesis that interactions with the resins were primarily driven by the residues in the Fab fragments and not the Fc. Furthermore, peptide mapping data indicated that the light chain may be playing a more important role in the higher binding of Parent A as compared with Parent B in these resin systems. Finally, results with the bsAb indicated that both halves of the molecule contributed to binding with the resins, albeit with subtle differences as compared to the parental mAbs. The workflow presented in this paper lays the foundation to systematically study the chromatographic selectivity of large multidomain molecules which can provide insights into improved biomanufacturability and expedited downstream bioprocess development.

Characterization and Monitoring of a Novel Light-heavy-light Chain Mispair in a Therapeutic Bispecific Antibody.

Site-specific cysteine engineering, along with other genetic mutations, is broadly implemented in bispecific antibodies (bsAb). Thus far, homodimer, half hole antibody, one-light chain mispaired and light chain swapped variants have been reported as chain-pairing variants for the asymmetric IgG-like bispecific antibodies. Here we report a novel mispair in which the CH3 engineered cysteine on the hole heavy chain (HC) of a knob-into-hole (KiH) bsAb is linked to the engineered cysteine in CL through a disulfide bond, forming a LHL species in a bsAb construct. Due to its impact on bioactivity, it is critical to implement an analytical strategy to monitor this CQA and mitigate risk for the future products. A set of orthogonal physicochemical assays that include hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC), capillary electrophoresis sodium dodecyl sulfate (CE-SDS), reverse phase liquid chromatography ultra-performance chromatography mass spectrometry (RP-UPLC MS) and disulfide bond mapping have been utilized to monitor and characterize this chain-pairing impurity for manufacturing process control and product release. Our data shows the LHL mispair in condition medium (CM) is approximately 1.3 - 1.9%. LambdaFabSelect affinity chromatography removes two major chain-pairing variants in CM - i.e. the hole-hole homodimer and hole half-antibody, while retaining the LHL species. Process improvement in Capto Q (anion exchange) and HS50 (cation exchange) chromatography steps removes LHL to as low as 0.2% in the final product. We have demonstrated an orthogonal analytical methodology that is capable of characterizing and monitoring bsAb mispairing, suitable for use in manufacturing process control and product release, and can be potentially implemented for similar bsAb constructs with engineered disulfide bonds.

An Integrated Approach to Aggregate Control for Therapeutic Bispecific Antibodies Using an Improved Three Column Mab Platform-Like Purification Process.

Single chain variable fragment-IgGs (scFv-IgG) are a class of bispecific antibodies consisting of two single chain variable fragments (scFv) that are fused to an intact IgG molecule. A common trend observed for expression of scFv-IgGs in mammalian cell culture is a higher level of aggregates (10%-30%) compared to mAbs, which results in lower purification yields in order to meet product quality targets. Furthermore, the high aggregate levels also pose robustness risks to a conventional mAb three column platform purification process which uses only the polishing steps (e.g., cation exchange chromatography [CEX]) for aggregate removal. Protein A chromatography with pH gradient elution, high performance tangential flow filtration (HP-TFF) and calcium phosphate precipitation were evaluated at the bench scale as means of introducing orthogonal aggregate removal capabilities into other aspects of the purification process. The two most promising process variants, namely Protein A pH gradient elution followed by calcium phosphate precipitation were evaluated at pilot scale, demonstrating comparable performance. Implementing Protein A chromatography with gradient elution and/or calcium phosphate precipitation removed a sufficient portion of the aggregate burden prior to the CEX polishing step, enabling CEX to be operated robustly under conditions favoring higher monomer yield. From starting aggregate levels ranging from 15% to 23% in the condition media, levels were reduced to between 2% and 3% at the end of the CEX step. The overall yield for the optimal process was 71%. Results of this work suggest an improved three-column mAb platform-like purification process for purification of high aggregate scFv-IgG bispecific antibodies is feasible. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 35: e2720, 2019.

Monoclonal antibody fragment removal mediated by mixed mode resins.

Efforts to increase monoclonal antibody expression in cell culture can result in the presence of fragmented species requiring removal in downstream processing. Capto adhere, HEA Hypercel, and PPA Hypercel anion exchange/hydrophobic interaction mixed mode resins were evaluated for their fragment removal capabilities and found to separate large hinge IgG1 antibody fragment (LHF) from monomer. Removal of greater than 75% of LHF population occurred at pH 8 and low conductivity. The mechanism of fragment removal was investigated in two series of experiments. The first experimental series consisted of comparison to chromatographic behavior on corresponding single mode resins. Both single mode anion exchange and hydrophobic interaction resins failed to separate LHF. The second experimental series studied the impact of phase modifiers, ethylene glycol, urea, and arginine on the mixed mode mediated removal. The addition of ethylene glycol decreased LHF removal by half. Further decreases in LHF separation were seen upon incubation with urea and arginine. Therefore, it was discovered that the purification is the result of a mixed mode phenomena dominated by hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bonding effects. The site of interaction between the LHF and mixed mode resin was determined by chemical labeling of lysine residues with sulfo-NHS acetate. The labeling identified the antibody hinge and light chain regions as mediating the fragment separation. Sequence analysis showed that under separation conditions, a hydrophobic proline patch and hydrogen bonding serine and threonine residues mediate the hinge interaction with the Capto adhere ligand. Additionally, a case study is presented detailing the optimization of fragment removal using Capto adhere resin to achieve purity and yield targets in a manufacturing facility. This study demonstrated that mixed mode resins can be readily integrated into commercial antibody platform processes when additional chromatographic abilities are required.

Development and scale-up of a commercial fed batch refolding process for an anti-CD22 two chain immunotoxin.

We describe the development and scale-up of a novel two chain immunotoxin refolding process. This work provides a case study comparing a clinical manufacturing process and the commercial process developed to replace it. While the clinical process produced high quality material, it suffered from low yield and high yield variability. A systematic approach to process development and understanding led to a number of improvements that were implemented in the commercial process. These include a shorter inclusion body recovery process, limiting the formation of an undesired deamidated species and the implementation of fed batch dilution refolding for increased refold titers. The use of a combination of urea, arginine and DTT for capture column cleaning restored the binding capacity of the capture step column and resulted in consistent capture step yields compared to the clinical process. Scalability is shown with data from 250 L and 950 L scale refolding processes. Compared to the clinical process it replaces, the commercial process demonstrated a greater than fivefold improvement in volumetric productivity at the 950 L refolding scale.

Recovering corn germ enriched in recombinant protein by wet-fractionation.

Corn wet-fractionation processes (quick-germ fractionation and traditional wet milling) were evaluated as means of recovering fractions rich in recombinant collagen-related proteins that were targeted for expression in the germ (embryo) of transgenic corn. Transgenic corn lines accumulating a recombinant full-length human collagen type-I-alpha-1 (full-length rCIalpha1) or a 44-kDa rCIalpha1 fragment targeted for seed expression with an embryo-specific promoter were used. Factors to consider in efficient recovery processes are the distribution of the peptides among botanical parts and process recovery efficiency. Both recombinant proteins were distributed 62-64% in germ comprising about 8.6% of the dry grain mass; 34-38% in the endosperm comprising 84% of the dry grain mass; 1.7% in the pericarp comprising about 5% of the dry mass; and 1% in the tip-cap comprising 1.5-2% of the dry mass. The quick-germ method employed a short steeping period either in water or SO(2)-lactic acid solution followed by wet-milling degermination to recover a germ-rich fraction. Of the total recombinant protein expressed in germ, the quick-germ process recovered 40-43% of the total recombinant protein within 6-8% of the corn mass. The traditional corn wet-milling process produced higher purity germ but with lower recovery (24-26%) of the recombinant protein. The two quick-germ methods, using water alone or SO(2)-lactic acid steeping, did not substantially differ in rCIalpha1 recovery, and the quick-germ processes recovered germ with less leaching and proteolytic losses of the recombinant proteins than did traditional wet milling. Thus, grain fractionation enriched the recombinant proteins 6-fold higher than that of unfractionated kernels. Such enrichment may improve downstream processing efficiency and enable utilizing the protein-lean co-products to produce biofuels and biorenewable chemicals by fermenting the remaining starch-rich fractions.