Separation of pegylated recombinant proteins and isoforms on CIM ion exchangers.

Protein pegylation is a process of covalent attachment of a polyethylene glycol (PEG) group to the protein tertiary structure that can "mask" the agent from the immune system and also increases the hydrodynamic size of the agent. Usually the pegylation prolongs the protein stability in the organism due to reduced renal clearance and provides superior water solubility to hydrophobic molecules. The mono-pegylated form of protein is usually prefered for medical applications. Different conditions with different PEG reagents have to be tested to find optimal pegylation procedure with specific protein. The goal of this study was to prepare screening method for separation of random mono-pegylated protein. Cytochrome C and beta lactoglobulin were pegylated with four reagents and a complete screening of several chromatographic monoliths in ion exchange mode with different buffers was performed to optimaly separate each mono-pegylated protein. The screening method was developed that produces optimal separation of target pegylated protein on CIM monoliths. Because of short chromatographic run time, CIM monoliths are perfect candidates to test alot of parameters. The results obtained show that each protein has its own unique separation parameters (pH, ionexchange ligand, buffer type). Two biopharmaceuticals were isolated using protocol: super human leptin antagonist (SHLA) was purified from inclusion bodies and mono-pegylated super mouse leptin antagonist (SMLA) from pegylated mixture. During study it was observed that the convective interaction media (CIM) monoliths additionally discriminate between protein isoforms pegylated on different sites in 3D structure of the protein.

Depletion of human serum albumin in embryo culture media for in vitro fertilization using monolithic columns with immobilized antibodies.

Affinity depletion of abundant proteins such as HSA is an important stage in routine sample preparation prior to MS/MS analysis of biological samples with high range of concentrations. Due to the charge competition effects in electrospray ion source that results in discrimination of the low-abundance species, as well as limited dynamic range of MS/MS, restricted typically by three orders of magnitude, the identification of low-abundance proteins becomes a challenge unless the sample is depleted from high-concentration compounds. This dictates a need for developing efficient separation technologies allowing fast and automated protein depletion. In this study, we performed evaluation of a novel immunoaffinity-based Convective Interaction Media analytical columns (CIMac) depletion column with specificity to HSA (CIMac-αHSA). Because of the convective flow-through channels, the polymethacrylate CIMac monoliths afford flow rate independent binding capacity and resolution that results in relatively short analysis time compared with traditional chromatographic supports. Seppro IgY14 depletion kit was used as a benchmark to control the results of depletion. Bottom-up proteomic approach followed by label-free quantitation using normalized spectral indexes were employed for protein quantification in G1/G2 and cleavage/blastocyst in vitro fertilization culture media widely utilized in clinics for embryo growth in vitro. The results revealed approximately equal HSA level of 100 ± 25% in albumin-enriched fractions relative to the nondepleted samples for both CIMac-αHSA column and Seppro kit. In the albumin-free fractions concentrated 5.5-fold by volume, serum albumin was identified at the levels of 5-30% and 20-30% for the CIMac-αHSA and Seppro IgY14 spin columns, respectively.

Sample displacement chromatography of plasmid DNA isoforms.

Sample displacement chromatography (SDC) is a chromatographic technique that utilises different relative binding affinities of components in a sample mixture and has been widely studied in the context of peptide and protein purification. Here, we report a use of SDC to separate plasmid DNA (pDNA) isoforms under overloading conditions, where supercoiled (sc) isoform acts as a displacer of open circular (oc) or linear isoform. Since displacement is more efficient when mass transfer between stationary and mobile chromatographic phases is not limited by diffusion, we investigated convective interaction media (CIM) monoliths as stationary phases for pDNA isoform separation. CIM monoliths with different hydrophobicities and thus different binding affinities for pDNA (CIM C4 HLD, CIM-histamine and CIM-pyridine) were tested under hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) conditions. SD efficiency for pDNA isoform separation was shown to be dependent on column selectivity for individual isoform, column efficiency and on ammonium sulfate (AS) concentration in loading buffer (binding strength). SD and negative mode elution often operate in parallel, therefore negative mode elution additionally influences the efficiency of the overall purification process. Optimisation of chromatographic conditions achieved 98% sc pDNA homogeneity and a dynamic binding capacity of over 1mg/mL at a relatively low concentration of AS. SDC was successfully implemented for the enrichment of sc pDNA for plasmid vectors of different sizes, and for separation of linear and and sc isoforms, independently of oc:sc isoform ratio, and flow-rate used. This study therefore identifies SDC as a promising new approach to large-scale pDNA purification, which is compatible with continuous, multicolumn chromatography systems, and could therefore be used to increase productivity of pDNA production in the future.

Surfaces energies of monoliths by inverse liquid chromatography and contact angles.

Seven porous chromatographic columns, termed monoliths, and seven nonporous sheets were produced from polymethacrylates. Their surfaces were activated by different densities of butyl and phenyl ligands. We determined the retention times of highly dilute molecular probes in monoliths and accessed contact angles of pure molecular probes of sheets. We calculated surface energies for both systems. We applied theories of Young, Dupré, and van Oss and compared the results of both types of experiments with respect to Lifshitz-van der Waals and Lewis acid and Lewis base contributions and find agreement but an additive constant.

Design of monoliths through their mechanical properties.

Chromatographic monoliths have several interesting properties making them attractive supports for analytics but also for purification, especially of large biomolecules and bioassemblies. Although many of monolith features were thoroughly investigated, there is no data available to predict how monolith mechanical properties affect its chromatographic performance. In this work, we investigated the effect of porosity, pore size and chemical modification on methacrylate monolith compression modulus. While a linear correlation between pore size and compression modulus was found, the effect of porosity was highly exponential. Through these correlations it was concluded that chemical modification affects monolith porosity without changing the monolith skeleton integrity. Mathematical model to describe the change of monolith permeability as a function of monolith compression modulus was derived and successfully validated for monoliths of different geometries and pore sizes. It enables the prediction of pressure drop increase due to monolith compressibility for any monolith structural characteristics, such as geometry, porosity, pore size or mobile phase properties like viscosity or flow rate, based solely on the data of compression modulus and structural data of non-compressed monolith. Furthermore, it enables simple determination of monolith pore size at which monolith compressibility is the smallest and the most robust performance is expected. Data of monolith compression modulus in combination with developed mathematical model can therefore be used for the prediction of monolith permeability during its implementation but also to accelerate the design of novel chromatographic monoliths with desired hydrodynamic properties for particular application.

Fast separation of large biomolecules using short monolithic columns.

Chromatographic monoliths have already penetrated in many different areas of separation sciences. This is due to their properties, especially advantageous for fast separation and purification of large biologic macromolecules, even at low pressure drop. Probably the most outstanding features are flow unaffected binding capacity and resolution, later resulting in very short analysis times. Furthermore, since large biomolecules interact with the matrix via many binding sites, efficient separation can be achieved with the monolithic columns of a very short length, further reducing pressure drop over matrix. In this review brief introduction to the monoliths is given with the emphasize on the theory of separation of large molecules, particularly on a linear gradient elution and estimation of peak broadening. As an outcome of this analysis the most efficient separation is expected when short monolithic column with accordingly adjusted gradient is implemented, especially for macromolecules interacting with the monolith functionalities via over 10 binding sites. This is experimentally demonstrated by several recent examples of short monolithic column applications for analysis of antibodies, viruses, virus like particles (VLPs) and polynucleotides like plasmid DNA (pDNA) and RNA, indicating their potential for process monitoring, control and optimization but also for product final formulation and quality control.

Application of monoliths for bioparticle isolation.

Monoliths are today probably the most studied chromatographic supports. There are plethora of publications dealing with different aspects of their preparation, characterization, and applications. The reason for this interest is their inherent properties related to their particular structure, like ease of preparation in various volumes, fast analytics at low pressure and room temperature, and high productivity as a consequence of flow-unaffected properties, especially important for isolation of large biological molecules. Because of that, structure of several monoliths was optimized for analytics and purification of biologic nanoparticles like viruses, virus-like particles (VLPs), cells structures, or even intact cells. In this review, some recent applications of monoliths in the field of bioparticle isolation are described and results are discussed in terms of particular monolith properties.

Adsorption behavior of large plasmids on the anion-exchange methacrylate monolithic columns.

The objective of this study was to investigate the behavior of large plasmids on the monolithic columns under binding and nonbinding conditions. The pressure drop measurements under nonbinding conditions demonstrated that the flow velocities under which plasmid passing monolith became hindered by the monolithic pore structure depended on the plasmid size as well as on the average monolith pore size; however, they were all very high exceeding the values encountered when applying CIM monolithic columns at their maximal flow rate. The impact of the ligand density and the salt concentration in loading buffer on binding capacity of the monolith for different sized plasmids was examined. For all plasmids the increase of dynamic binding capacity with the increase of salt concentration in the loading solution was observed reaching maximum of 7.1 mg/mL at 0.4M NaCl for 21 kbp, 12.0 mg/mL at 0.4 M NaCl for 39.4 kbp and 8.4 mg/mL at 0.5M NaCl for 62.1 kbp. Analysis of the pressure drop data measured on the monolithic column during plasmid loading revealed different patterns of plasmid binding to the surface, showing "car-parking problem" phenomena under certain conditions. In addition, layer thickness of adsorbed plasmid was estimated and at maximal dynamic binding capacity it matched calculated plasmid radius of gyration. Finally, it was found that the adsorbed plasmid layer acts similarly as the grafted layer responding to changes in solution's ionic strength as well as mobile phase flow rate and that the density of plasmid layer depends on the plasmid size and also loading conditions.

Purification of large plasmids with methacrylate monolithic columns.

The rapid evolution of gene therapy and DNA vaccines results in an increasing interest in producing large quantities of pharmaceutical grade plasmid DNA. Most current clinical trials involve plasmids of 10 kb or smaller in size, however, future requirements for multigene vectors including extensive control regions may require the production of larger plasmids, e. g., 20 kb and bigger. The objective of this study was to examine certain process conditions for purification of large plasmids with the size of up to 93 kb. Since there is a lack of knowledge about production and purification of bigger plasmid DNA, cell lysis and storage conditions were investigated. The impact of chromatographic system and methacrylate monolithic column on the degradation of plasmid molecules under nonbinding conditions at different flow rates was studied. Furthermore, capacity measurements varying salt concentration in loading buffer were performed and the capacities up to 13 mg of plasmid per mL of the monolithic column were obtained. The capacity flow independence in the range from 130 to 370 cm/h was observed. Using high resolution monolithic column the separation of linear and supercoiled isoforms of large plasmids was obtained. Last but not least, since the baseline separation of RNA and pDNA was achieved, the one step purification on larger CIM DEAE 8 mL tube monolithic column was performed and the fractions were analyzed by CIM analytical monolithic columns.

Characterisation of grafted weak anion-exchange methacrylate monoliths.

A weak ion-exchange grafted methacrylate monolith was prepared by grafting a methacrylate monolith with glycidyl methacrylate and subsequently modifying the epoxy groups with diethylamine. The thickness of the grafted layer was determined by measuring permeability and found to be approximately 90nm. The effects of different buffer solutions on the pressure drop were examined and indicated the influence of pH on the permeability of the grafted monolith. Protein separation and binding capacity (BC) were found to be flow-unaffected up to a linear velocity of 280cm/h. A comparison of the BC for the non-grafted and grafted monolith was performed using beta-lactoglobulin, bovine serum albumin (BSA), thyroglobulin, and plasmid DNA (pDNA). It was found that the grafted monolith exhibited 2- to 3.5-fold higher capacities (as compared to non-grafted monoliths) in all cases reaching values of 105, 80, 71, and 17mg/ml, respectively. It was determined that the maximum pDNA capacity was reached using 0.1M NaCl in the loading buffer. Recovery was comparable and no degradation of the supercoiled pDNA form was detected. Protein z-factors were equal for the non-grafted and grafted monolith indicating that the same number of binding sites are available although elution from the grafted monolith occurred at higher ionic strengths. The grafted monolith exhibited lower efficiency than the non-grafted ones. However, the baseline separation of pDNA from RNA and other impurities was achieved from a real sample.