Adsorption and Aggregation of Monoclonal Antibodies at Silicone Oil-Water Interfaces.

Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapies are rapidly growing for the treatment of various diseases like cancer and autoimmune disorders. Many mAb drug products are sold as prefilled syringes and vials with liquid formulations. Typically, the walls of prefilled syringes are coated with silicone oil to lubricate the surfaces during use. MAbs are surface-active and adsorb to these silicone oil-solution interfaces, which is a potential source of aggregation. We studied formulations containing two different antibodies, mAb1 and mAb2, where mAb1 aggregated more when agitated in the presence of an oil-water interface. This directly correlated with differences in surface activity of the mAbs, studied with interfacial tension, surface mass adsorption, and interfacial rheology. The difference in interfacial properties between the mAbs was further reinforced in the coalescence behavior of oil droplets laden with mAbs. We also looked at the efficacy of surfactants, typically added to stabilize mAb formulations, in lowering adsorption and aggregation of mAbs at oil-water interfaces. We showed the differences between poloxamer-188 and polysorbate-20 in competing with mAbs for adsorption to interfaces and in lowering particulate and overall aggregation. Our results establish a direct correspondence between the adsorption of mAbs at oil-water interfaces and aggregation and the effect of surfactants in lowering aggregation by competitively adsorbing to these interfaces.

In-Use Interfacial Stability of Monoclonal Antibody Formulations Diluted in Saline i.v. Bags.

The use of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for the treatment of a variety of diseases is rapidly growing each year. Many mAbs are administered intravenously using i.v. bags containing 0.9% NaCl (normal saline). We studied the aggregation propensity of these antibody solutions in saline and compared it with a low ionic strength formulation buffer. The mAb studied in this work is prone to aggregate, and is known to form a viscoelastic network at the air-solution interface. We observed that this interfacial elasticity increased when formulated in saline. In the bulk, the mAbs exhibited a tendency to self-associate that was higher in saline. We also studied the aggregation of the mAbs in the presence of polysorbate-20, typically added to formulations to mitigate interfacial aggregation. We observed that with surfactants, the presence of salt in the buffer led to a greater mAb adsorption at the interface and resulted in the formation of more particulate aggregates. Our results show that the addition of salt to the buffer led to differences in the interfacial aggregation in mAb formulations, showing that stress studies used to screen for mAb aggregation intended for i.v. administration should be performed in conditions representative of their intended route of administration.

Linking aggregation and interfacial properties in monoclonal antibody-surfactant formulations.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are therapeutic proteins used in the treatment of many diseases due to their specificity in binding targets. Aggregation of these molecules is a major challenge in their formulation development. MAbs spontaneously adsorb onto air-solution interfaces and experience interfacial stresses, which is one of the major causes of aggregation. This work studies the effect of pharmaceutically relevant surfactants like polysorbate-20, poloxamer-188 and polyethylene glycol in controlling the aggregation and interfacial behavior of a mAb prone to interfacial aggregation. Agitation-induced aggregation was characterized using size-exclusion chromatography, flow cytometry and light obscuration. The addition of surfactants reduced the formation of aggregates. In the presence of surfactants competitively adsorbing to the interface, the number of soluble aggregates (size < 100 nm) depended on the amount of mAb adsorbed. On the other hand, the number of insoluble aggregates was governed not by the surface concentration, but by the ability of the adsorbed mAbs to interact and form a cohesive network. To correlate the aggregation in these mAb-surfactant mixtures with their interfacial behavior, studies on the drainage of a fluid film sandwiched between two mAb-surfactant laden interfaces were performed. The amount of fluid entrained depended on different governing mechanisms - interfacial rheology, surface tension and surface tension gradients for different surfactants. The surface tension gradients further resulted in an instability and local thickening in the sandwiched fluid film, which was affected by the presence of mAbs. Understanding the aggregation propensities of different mAb-surfactant mixtures and linking them to the interfacial behavior will greatly aid in understanding the aggregation mechanism and in mitigating aggregate formation by optimizing surfactant type and concentration in the formulation.

Interfacial Stress in the Development of Biologics: Fundamental Understanding, Current Practice, and Future Perspective.

Biologic products encounter various types of interfacial stress during development, manufacturing, and clinical administration. When proteins come in contact with vapor-liquid, solid-liquid, and liquid-liquid surfaces, these interfaces can significantly impact the protein drug product quality attributes, including formation of visible particles, subvisible particles, or soluble aggregates, or changes in target protein concentration due to adsorption of the molecule to various interfaces. Protein aggregation at interfaces is often accompanied by changes in conformation, as proteins modify their higher order structure in response to interfacial stresses such as hydrophobicity, charge, and mechanical stress. Formation of aggregates may elicit immunogenicity concerns; therefore, it is important to minimize opportunities for aggregation by performing a systematic evaluation of interfacial stress throughout the product development cycle and to develop appropriate mitigation strategies. The purpose of this white paper is to provide an understanding of protein interfacial stability, explore methods to understand interfacial behavior of proteins, then describe current industry approaches to address interfacial stability concerns. Specifically, we will discuss interfacial stresses to which proteins are exposed from drug substance manufacture through clinical administration, as well as the analytical techniques used to evaluate the resulting impact on the stability of the protein. A high-level mechanistic understanding of the relationship between interfacial stress and aggregation will be introduced, as well as some novel techniques for measuring and better understanding the interfacial behavior of proteins. Finally, some best practices in the evaluation and minimization of interfacial stress will be recommended.

Monoclonal Antibody Interfaces: Dilatation Mechanics and Bubble Coalescence.

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are proteins that uniquely identify targets within the body, making them well-suited for therapeutic applications. However, these amphiphilic molecules readily adsorb onto air-solution interfaces where they tend to aggregate. We investigated two mAbs with different propensities to aggregate at air-solution interfaces. The understanding of the interfacial rheological behavior of the two mAbs is crucial in determining their aggregation tendency. In this work, we performed interfacial stress relaxation studies under compressive step strain using a custom-built dilatational rheometer. The dilatational relaxation modulus was determined for these viscoelastic interfaces. The initial value and the equilibrated value of relaxation modulus were larger in magnitude for the mAb with a higher tendency to aggregate in response to interfacial stress. We also performed single-bubble coalescence experiments using a custom-built dynamic fluid-film interferometer (DFI). The bubble coalescence times also correlated to the mAbs aggregation propensity and interfacial viscoelasticity. To study the influence of surfactants in mAb formulations, polyethylene glycol (PEG) was chosen as a model surfactant. In the mixed mAb/PEG system, we observed that the higher aggregating mAb coadsorbed with PEG and formed domains at the interface. In contrast, for the other mAb, PEG entirely covered the interface at the concentrations studied. We studied the mobility of the interfaces, which was manifested by the presence or the lack of Marangoni stresses. These dynamics were strongly correlated with the interfacial viscoelasticity of the mAbs. The influence of competitive destabilization in affecting the bubble coalescence times for the mixed mAb/PEG systems was also studied.

A Method To Measure Protein Unfolding at an Air-Liquid Interface.

Proteins are surface-active molecules that have a propensity to adsorb to hydrophobic interfaces, such as the air-liquid interface. Surface flow can increase aggregation of adsorbed proteins, which may be an undesirable consequence depending on the application. As changes in protein conformation upon adsorption are thought to induce aggregation, the ability to measure the folded state of proteins at interfaces is of particular interest. However, few techniques currently exist to measure protein conformation at interfaces. Here we describe a technique capable of measuring the hydrophobicity, and therefore the conformation and folded state, of proteins at air-liquid interfaces by exploiting the environmentally sensitive fluorophore Nile red. Two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with high (mAb1) and low (mAb2) surface activity were used to highlight the technique. Both mAbs showed low background fluorescence of Nile red in the liquid subphase and at a glass-liquid interface. In contrast, at the air-liquid interface Nile red fluorescence for mAb1 increased immediately after protein adsorption, whereas the Nile red fluorescence of the mAb2 film evolved more slowly in time even though the adsorbed quantity of protein remained constant. The results demonstrate that hydrophobicity upon mAb adsorption to the air-liquid interface evolves in a time-dependent manner. Interfacial hydrophobicity may be indicative of protein conformation or folded state, where rapid unfolding of mAb1 upon adsorption would be consistent with increased protein aggregation compared to mAb2. The ability to measure protein hydrophobicity at interfaces using Nile red, combined with small sample requirements and minimal sample preparation, fills a gap in existing interfacial techniques.

A Small-scale Model to Assess the Risk of Leachables from Single-use Bioprocess Containers through Protein Quality Characterization.

Leachables from single-use bioprocess containers (BPCs) are a source of process-related impurities that have the potential to alter product quality of biotherapeutics and affect patient health. Leachables often exist at very low concentrations, making it difficult to detect their presence and challenging to assess their impact on protein quality. A small-scale stress model based on assessing protein stability was developed to evaluate the potential risks associated with storing biotherapeutics in disposable bags caused by the presence of leachables. Small-scale BPCs were filled with protein solution at high surface area-to-volume ratios (≥3× the surface area-to-volume ratio of manufacturing-scale BPCs) and incubated at stress temperatures (e.g., 25 °C or 30 °C for up to 12 weeks) along with an appropriate storage vessel (e.g., glass vial or stainless steel) as a control for side-by-side comparison. Changes in protein size variants measured by size exclusion chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, and particle formation for two monoclonal antibodies using both the small-scale stress model and a control revealed a detrimental effect of gamma-irradiated BPCs on protein aggregation and significant BPC difference between earlier and later batches. It was found that preincubation of the empty BPCs prior to protein storage improved protein stability, suggesting the presence of volatile or heat-sensitive leachables (heat-labile or thermally degraded). In addition, increasing the polysorbate 20 concentration lowered, but did not completely mitigate, the leachable-protein interactions, indicating the presence of a hydrophobic leachable. Overall, this model can inform the risk of BPC leachables on biotherapeutics during routine manufacturing and assist in making decisions on the selection of a suitable BPC for the manufacturing process by assessing changes in product quality. LAY ABSTRACT: Leachables from single-use systems often exist in small quantities and are difficult to detect with existing analytical methods. The presence of relevant detrimental leachables from single-use bioprocess containers (BPCs) can be indirectly detected by studying the stability of monoclonal antibodies via changes by size exclusion chromatography, capillary electrophoresis sodium dodecyl sulfate, and visible/sub-visible particles using a small-scale stress model containing high surface area-to-volume ratio at elevated temperature alongside with an appropriate control (e.g., glass vials or stainless steel containers). These changes in protein quality attributes allowed the evaluation of potential risks associated with adopting single-use bioprocess containers for storage as well as bag quality and bag differences between earlier and later batches. These leachables appear to be generated during the bag sterilization process by gamma irradiation. Improvements in protein stability after storage in "preheated" bags indicated that these leachables may be thermally unstable or volatile. The effect of surfactant levels, storage temperatures, surface area-to-volume ratios, filtration, and buffer exchange on leachables and protein stability were also assessed.

Predicting the Agitation-Induced Aggregation of Monoclonal Antibodies Using Surface Tensiometry.

Adsorption of antibody therapeutics to air-liquid interfaces can enhance aggregation, particularly when the solution does not contain protective surfactant or when the surfactant is diluted as occurs during preparation of intravenous infusion bags. The ability to predict an antibody's propensity for interfacially mediated aggregation is particularly useful during product development to ensure the quality, potency, and safety of the therapeutic. To develop a predictive tool, we investigated the surface pressure and surface excess of a panel of 16 antibodies as well as determined their aggregation propensity at the air-liquid interface in an agitation stress model. Our data demonstrated that the initial rate of surface pressure increase upon antibody adsorption to the air-liquid interface strongly predicted the extent of agitation-induced aggregation. Other factors, including the hydrophobicity, equilibrium surface pressure, and interfacial concentration of an antibody, were not adequate predictors of its susceptibility to aggregation. In addition to developing a predictive tool, we extended the interfacial characterization to better understand the mechanisms of antibody aggregation at an air-liquid interface during agitation stress. We believe that the kinetics of antibody rearrangement and conformational change after adsorbing to the interface, leading to the development of attractive antibody-antibody interactions, dictated the extent of aggregation. Overall, our results demonstrate how surface pressure measurements can be implemented as a rapid screening tool for the identification of antibodies with a high propensity to aggregate upon adsorption to an air-liquid interface while also furthering our understanding of interfacially mediated protein aggregation.

Visualizing monolayers with a water-soluble fluorophore to quantify adsorption, desorption, and the double layer.

Contrast in confocal microscopy of phase-separated monolayers at the air-water interface can be generated by the selective adsorption of water-soluble fluorescent dyes to disordered monolayer phases. Optical sectioning minimizes the fluorescence signal from the subphase, whereas convolution of the measured point spread function with a simple box model of the interface provides quantitative assessment of the excess dye concentration associated with the monolayer. Coexisting liquid-expanded, liquid-condensed, and gas phases could be visualized due to differential dye adsorption in the liquid-expanded and gas phases. Dye preferentially adsorbed to the liquid-disordered phase during immiscible liquid-liquid phase coexistence, and the contrast persisted through the critical point as shown by characteristic circle-to-stripe shape transitions. The measured dye concentration in the disordered phase depended on the phase composition and surface pressure, and the dye was expelled from the film at the end of coexistence. The excess concentration of a cationic dye within the double layer adjacent to an anionic phospholipid monolayer was quantified as a function of subphase ionic strength, and the changes in measured excess agreed with those predicted by the mean-field Gouy-Chapman equations. This provided a rapid and noninvasive optical method of measuring the fractional dissociation of lipid headgroups and the monolayer surface potential.

Visualizing the analogy between competitive adsorption and colloid stability to restore lung surfactant function.

We investigated a model of acute respiratory distress syndrome in which the serum protein albumin adsorbs to an air-liquid interface and prevents the thermodynamically preferable adsorption of the clinical lung surfactant Survanta by inducing steric and electrostatic energy barriers analogous to those that prevent colloidal aggregation. Chitosan and polyethylene glycol (PEG), two polymers that traditionally have been used to aggregate colloids, both allow Survanta to quantitatively displace albumin from the interface, but through two distinct mechanisms. Direct visualization with confocal microscopy shows that the polycation chitosan coadsorbs to interfacial layers of both Survanta and albumin, and also colocalizes with the anionic domains of Survanta at the air-liquid interface, consistent with it eliminating the electrostatic repulsion by neutralizing the surface charges on albumin and Survanta. In contrast, the PEG distribution does not change during the displacement of albumin by Survanta, consistent with PEG inducing a depletion attraction sufficient to overcome the repulsive energy barrier toward adsorption.