Cation exchange frontal chromatography for the removal of monoclonal antibody aggregates.

A low ligand density cation exchange (CEX) chromatography resin, Eshmuno® CP-FT resin, was investigated for the removal of aggregates from monoclonal antibody (mAb) feeds using a continuous loading process. Removing mAb aggregates with a CEX resin using continuous loading is advantageous relative to a bind/elute loading process, because the resin can use nearly its full capacity to bind the aggregates enabling much higher loadings. The removal of mAb aggregates with Eshmuno® CP-FT resin using a continuous loading process was found to be consistent with a frontal chromatography mechanism where the mAb monomer initially binds to the column and is subsequently displaced by dimers and higher molecular weight aggregates. The removal of mAb aggregates with Eshmuno® CP-FT resin using a continuous loading process was compared with six other commercially available strong CEX chromatography resins and found to correlate with their ionic densities, but not their mAb static binding capacities. The influence of pH, conductivity, residence time, and mAb concentration on the removal of aggregates with Eshmuno® CP-FT resin using a continuous loading process was also investigated. Finally, the percentage of aggregates in a mAb feed was varied to examine the effect on the removal of aggregates with Eshmuno® CP-FT resin using a continuous loading process.

Cored anion-exchange chromatography media for antibody flow-through purification.

Agarose-based anion-exchangers (e.g. quaternary amine, Q) have been widely used in monoclonal antibody flow-through purification to remove trace levels of impurities. Such media are often packed in a large column and the operation is usually robust but with limited throughput due to the compressibility of agarose and consequentially low bed permeability. In order to address this limitation, cored Q beads consisting of a rigid core and a thin agarose gel coating were developed and evaluated for protein flow-through chromatography. Using laboratory-scale columns it was found that, the cored beads indeed provide significantly enhanced rigidity and flow permeability relative to conventional homogeneous agarose resins. Depending on the structure and size of the cored beads, the permeability was 2-4-fold higher than that of a commonly used commercial agarose resin. Good virus and host cell protein clearance was achieved with the cored Q beads even at increased flow velocities. In addition, the impermeable core allows for more efficient use of buffers without loss of useful capacity in polishing applications. Process analyses based upon the experimental data demonstrated that the enhanced permeability achieved with the cored beads can significantly improve process throughput and economics.