A bridging immunogenicity assay for anti-cabiralizumab antibodies: overcoming the low assay cut point and drug tolerance challenges.

Background: To support the clinical studies of cabiralizumab, an immunogenicity assay for detecting anti-cabiralizumab antibodies is required. Results: Strategies were developed to overcome two major bioanalytical challenges: poor drug tolerance of the anti-drug antibodies assay and very low cut point observed in the screening and confirmatory assays. By using acid dissociation (400 mM glycine solution at pH 2.0), drug tolerance of 200 µg/ml drug was achieved for both the screening and confirmatory assays. Effects of biological matrix (disease state vs normal serum) and assay conditions (capture/detector reagent concentration, minimum required dilution, acid pretreatment) on assay cut points were systematically evaluated. Conclusion: A bridging immunogenicity assay for detecting anti-cabiralizumab antibodies in human serum has been successfully developed, validated and applied to clinical studies.

Highly selective and sensitive measurement of active forms of FGF21 using novel immunocapture enrichment with LC-MS/MS.

AIM: Recombinant FGF21 analogs are under wide ranging investigations as a potential therapeutic agent for Type 2 diabetes, as well as other metabolic disorders. The endogenous FGF21 is often used as a surrogate pharmacodynamic(PD) biomarker to assess drug efficacy and safety. Results & methodology: Immunocapture was performed using a monoclonal antibody which had been generated to bind to specific domain of native FGF21 as the capture reagent. After immunocapture, enzymatic digestion was performed and a native FGF21-specific tryptic peptide was monitored using LC-MS/MS by selective reaction monitoring. CONCLUSION: We have successfully developed and validated a bioanalytical assay which provides the specificity to differentiate the endogenous FGF21 from the recombinant therapeutic agent which has nearly identical sequence to the endogenous molecule.

A multiplexed immunocapture liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry assay for the simultaneous measurement of myostatin and GDF-11 in rat serum using an automated sample preparation platform.

Myostatin, also known as growth differentiation factor 8 (GDF-8), is a protein acting as a negative regulator in skeletal muscle growth. Inhibition of myostatin by therapeutic agents provides opportunities for current unmet medical needs. In order to better understand drug engagement to aid the drug development, we have developed a hybrid LC-MS/MS method which can differentially measure myostatin and another protein from the same GDF family, GDF-11. Although the two proteins share high homology, the LC-MS/MS assay provided the specificity based on monitoring of unique surrogate peptide generated from enzymatic digestion. An automated sample preparation platform, Agilent AssayMap Bravo, was used for automated immunocapture. Capture antibody that is non-competing with our investigational drug and has similar binding affinity to both myostatin and GDF-11 was used. Therefore, total myostatin and GDF-11 including both free form and drug-bound form were captured and measured. The enriched sample was digested after reduction and alkylation. Two surrogate peptides (IPAMVVDR for myostatin and IPGMVVDR for GDF-11) were monitored and the lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) was established at 1.0 ng/mL for myostatin and 0.1 ng/mL for GDF-11. The accuracy was demonstrated with recovery for IPAMVVDR between 99.2% and 103.1% and for IPGMVVDR between 90.3% and 114.5%. The developed hybrid assay exhibits sufficient sensitivity, accuracy and specificity to differentiate between the highly structurally similar myostatin and GDF-11. This analytical approach was successfully applied to a rat toxicology study, and was demonstrated to be a powerful tool for biomarker measurement in the present of a therapeutic agent.

Strategy for the Quantitation of a Protein Conjugate via Hybrid Immunocapture-Liquid Chromatography with Sequential HRMS and SRM-Based LC-MS/MS Analyses.

With the development of modern instrumentation and technologies, mass spectrometry based assays have played an important role in protein bioanalysis. We have developed a novel strategy by combining the "bottom-up" and "top-down" approaches using both high-resolution (HRMS) and selected reaction monitoring (SRM) based mass spectrometric detection to quantify a positron emission tomography (PET) detection tracer for an oncology marker. Monkey plasma samples were processed by immunocapture purification, followed by liquid chromatography (LC) with HRMS full scan analysis. Summed multiple charge states and multiple isotopes per charge state of the analyte were used during quantitation for optimized sensitivity. After the HRMS analysis, the remaining samples were digested by trypsin, followed by SRM detection. The HRMS approach provided the solution to a unique problem related to stability of the protein conjugate by quantifying the intact protein. The SRM method only measured a signature peptide generated from enzymatic digestion, but had a lower quantitation limit to meet the sensitivity requirement to assess the pharmacokinetics in a toxicology study. Both methods demonstrated good sensitivity, accuracy, precision and robustness, and the results revealed that there was no significant difference between the data sets obtained from both methods, indicating no in vivo or ex vivo degradation occurred in the incurred samples after dosing. This workflow not only provided the quantitative results for pharmacokinetic evaluation, but also revealed valuable in vivo stability information on the intact protein level.

A validated LC-MS/MS method for the quantitative measurement of creatinine as an endogenous biomarker in human plasma.

BACKGROUND: Creatinine is an endogenous compound generated from creatine by normal muscular metabolism. It is an important indicator of renal function and the serum level is routinely monitored in clinical labs. Results & methodology: Surrogate analyte (d3-creatinine) was used for calibration standard and quality control preparation and the relative instrument response ratio between creatinine and d3-creatinine was used to calculate the endogenous creatinine concentrations. CONCLUSION: A fit-for-purpose strategy of using a surrogate analyte and authentic matrix was adopted for this validation. The assay was the first human plasma assay using such strategy and was successfully applied to a clinical study to confirm a transient elevation of creatinine observed using an existing clinical assay.

Dried blood spot analysis without dilution: Application to the LC-MS/MS determination of BMS-986001 in rat dried blood spot.

Sample dilution is one major challenge in dried blood spot (DBS) bioanalysis. To resolve this issue, we applied a no-dilution strategy for DBS analysis by using a calibration curve with very wide linear range. We developed an LC-MS/MS DBS assay with a linear range of 5 orders of magnitude (50-5000,000ng/mL) for BMS-986001, an HIV drug under development, by simultaneously monitoring two selective reaction monitoring transitions of different intensity. The assay was validated and successfully applied to the analysis of DBS samples collected in a toxicology study in rats dosed with BMS-986001. All samples were analyzed without any dilution. We also compared the concentration data generated from the DBS method and a validated plasma assay for the same study. The two sets of data agreed well with each other, demonstrating the validity of this strategy for DBS analysis. This approach provides an effective and convenient way to eliminate complicated dilution for DBS and other sample collection techniques.

A UHPLC-MS/MS bioanalytical assay for the determination of BMS-911543, a JAK2 inhibitor, in human plasma.

Herein we report a rapid, accurate and robust UHPLC-MS/MS assay for the quantitation of BMS-911453, a Janus kinase 2 inhibitor under clinical development for the treatment of myeloproliferative disorders, in human plasma. A systematic method development approach was used to optimize the mass spectrometry, chromatography, and sample extraction conditions, and to minimize potential bioanalytical risks. The validated method utilizes stable-isotope labeled (13)C4-BMS-911543 as the internal standard. Liquid-liquid extraction was used for sample preparation. Chromatographic separation was achieved within 2min on a Zorbax Extend-C18 column with an isocratic elution. BMS-911543 and its internal standard were detected by positive ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. The assay range was from 1 to 500ng/mL, and the standard curve was fitted with 1/x(2) weighted linear regression. The intra-assay precision was within 5.0% CV and the inter-assay precision was within 2.6% CV. The inter-assay mean accuracy, expressed as percents of theoretical, was between 99.8% and 102.3%. The assay has high recovery (∼80%) and minimal matrix effect (0.95-1.00). BMS-911543 was stable in human plasma for at least 24h at room temperature, 90 days at -20°C, and following three freeze-thaw cycles. The validated method was successfully applied to sample analysis in clinical studies.

Strategies for improving sensitivity and selectivity for the quantitation of biotherapeutics in biological matrix using LC-MS/MS.

In recent years, the applicability of using LC-MS/MS as a complementary technique to traditional ligand binding assays in the absolute quantitation of therapeutic proteins in biologic matrix has been demonstrated. Protein quantitation workflow via LC-MS/MS is primarily based on a enzymatic digestion model and recent works seek to improve selectivity and sensitivity. This review focuses on recent innovations in this field and discusses the following in detail: the applicability of two-dimensional liquid chromatography and its use to improve sensitivity and alleviate matrix ion suppression; the use of derivatization agents after digestion to improve extraction and MS ionization efficiency; techniques to reduce excess protein background and their positive effects on sensitivity, selectivity, and extraction consistency; the application of immunoaffinity extraction of proteins to enrich the analyte(s) of interest while improving selectivity and sensitivity.

Development and validation of a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry assay for the quantitation of a protein therapeutic in cynomolgus monkey serum.

We have developed and fully validated a fast and simple LC-MS/MS assay to quantitate a therapeutic protein BMS-A in cynomolgus monkey serum. Prior to trypsin digestion, a recently reported sample pretreatment method was applied to remove more than 95% of the total serum albumin and denature the proteins in the serum sample. The pretreatment procedure simplified the biological sample prior to digestion, improved digestion efficiency and reproducibility, and did not require reduction and alkylation. The denatured proteins were then digested with trypsin at 60 °C for 30 min and the tryptic peptides were chromatographically separated on an Acquity CSH column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 µm) using gradient elution. One surrogate peptide was used for quantitation and another surrogate peptide was selected for confirmation. Two corresponding stable isotope labeled peptides were used to compensate variations during LC-MS detection. The linear analytical range of the assay was 0.50-500 µg/mL. The accuracy (%Dev) was within ± 5.4% and the total assay variation (%CV) was less than 12.0% for sample analysis. The validated method demonstrated good accuracy and precision and the application of the innovative albumin removal sample pretreatment method improved both assay sensitivity and robustness. The assay has been applied to a cynomolgus monkey toxicology study and the serum sample concentration data were in good agreement with data generated using a quantitative ligand-binding assay (LBA). The use of a confirmatory peptide, in addition to the quantitation peptide, ensured the integrity of the drug concentrations measured by the method.

Selective reaction monitoring of negative electrospray ionization acetate adduct ions for the bioanalysis of dapagliflozin in clinical studies.

Dapagliflozin (Farxiga), alone, or in the fixed dose combination with metformin (Xigduo), is an orally active, highly selective, reversible inhibitor of sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 (SGLT2) that is marketed in United States, Europe, and many other countries for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Here we report a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) bioanalytical assay of dapagliflozin in human plasma. A lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) at 0.2 ng/mL with 50 µL of plasma was obtained, which reflects a 5-fold improvement of the overall assay sensitivity in comparison to the previous most sensitive assay using the same mass spectrometry instrumentation. In this new assay, acetate adduct ions in negative electrospray ionization mode were used as the precursor ions for selective reaction monitoring (SRM) detection. Sample preparation procedures and LC conditions were further developed to enhance the column life span and achieve the separation of dapagliflozin from potential interferences, especially its epimers. The assay also quantifies dapagliflozin's major systemic circulating glucuronide metabolite, BMS-801576, concentrations in human plasma. The assay was successfully transferred to contract research organizations (CROs), validated, and implemented for the sample analysis of pediatric and other critical clinical studies. This assay can be widely used for bioanalytical support of future clinical studies for the newly approved drug Farxiga or any combination therapy containing dapagliflozin.

LC-MS/MS determination of apixaban (BMS-562247) and its major metabolite in human plasma: an application of polarity switching and monolithic HPLC column.

BACKGROUND: apixaban (BMS-562247) (Eliquis(®)) is a novel, orally active, selective, direct, reversible inhibitor of the coagulation factor Xa (FXa). A sensitive and reliable method was developed and validated for the measurement of apixaban (BMS-562247) and its major circulating metabolite (BMS-730823) in human citrated plasma for use in clinical testing. METHODOLOGY/RESULTS: A 0.100 ml portion of citrated plasma sample was extracted and analyzed by LC-MS/MS. Run times were approximately 3 min. The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 1.00 ng/ml for BMS-562247 and 5.00 ng/ml for BMS-730823. Intra- and inter-assay precision values for replicate QC control samples were within ≤5.36% for both analytes (≤7.52% at the LLOQ). The accuracy for both analytes was within ±9.00%. CONCLUSION: The method was demonstrated to be sensitive, selective and robust, and was successfully used to support clinical studies.

A novel and cost effective method of removing excess albumin from plasma/serum samples and its impacts on LC-MS/MS bioanalysis of therapeutic proteins.

We have developed an innovative method to remove albumin from plasma/serum samples for the LC-MS/MS quantitation of therapeutic proteins. Different combinations of organic solvents and acids were screened for their ability to remove albumin from plasma and serum samples. Removal efficiency was monitored by two signature peptides (QTALVELVK and LVNEVTEFAK) from albumin. Isopropanol with 1.0% trichloroacetic acid was found to be the most effective combination to remove albumin while retaining the protein of interest. Our approach was compared with a commercial albumin depletion kit on both efficiency of albumin removal and recovery of target proteins. We have demonstrated that our approach can remove 95% of the total albumin in human plasma samples while retaining close to 100% for two of three therapeutic proteins tested, with the third one at 60-80%. The commercial kit removed 98% of albumin but suffered at least 50% recovery loss for all therapeutic proteins when compared to our approach. Using BMS-C as a probe compound, the incorporation of the albumin removal approach has improved both assay sensitivity and ruggedness, compared to the whole plasma protein digestion approach alone. An LC-MS/MS method was developed and validated based on this new approach for the analysis of BMS-C in monkey serum. This assay was successfully applied to a toxicological study. When the albumin removal method was used in another clinical LC-MS/MS method, the sensitivity improved 10-fold to 50 ng/mL LLOQ comparing to a typical pellet digestion method.

Sensitivity-based analytical approaches to support human absolute bioavailability studies.

The characterization of absolute bioavailability (BA) is useful for non-intravenous (iv.) formulations during drug development and is required by some health authorities. A study design of co-administrating an iv. isotopically labeled microdose with a therapeutic oral dose is a viable approach for the determination of human PK and has been accepted by regulatory agencies. The implementation of an iv.-microdose with oral therapeutic dose in absolute BA studies speeds up clinical development. In recent years, AMS to measure a radiolabeled microdose has been utilized to support several clinical absolute BA studies. An alternative approach for conducting microdose studies is using LC-MS/MS alone to quantitate both the iv. drug and the oral drug. Because both labeled and unlabeled drugs can be measured simultaneously with LC-MS/MS, it is cost effective. However, for compounds with high volume of distribution and/or poor LC-MS/MS response, AMS still provides a superior LLOQ. In this Perspective, we discuss a paradigm for selecting either an LC-MS/MS or AMS-based approach for generating concentration data in absolute BA studies dependent on the required sensitivity.

Bioanalysis of propylparaben and p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and their sulfate conjugates in rat plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Two rugged liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) methods for the determination of propylparaben, its major metabolite, p-hydroxybenzoic acid (pHBA), and their sulfate conjugates have been developed and validated in citric acid-treated rat plasma. To prevent propylparaben being hydrolyzed to pHBA ex vivo, rat plasma was first treated with citric acid; then collected and processed at a reduced temperature (ice bath). Stable isotope labeled internal standards, d4-propylparaben, (13)C6-pHBA, and the d4-labeled internal standards of their sulfate conjugates were used in the methods. The analytes were extracted from the matrix using protein precipitation, followed by chromatographic separation on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC HSS T3 column. Quantification using negative ion electrospray was performed on a Sciex API 4000 mass spectrometer. The analytical ranges were established from 2.00 to 200 ng/mL for propylparaben, 50.0-5000 ng/mL for pHBA, 50.0-10,000 ng/mL for the sulfate conjugate of propylparaben (SPP) and 200-40,000 ng/mL for the sulfate conjugate of pHBA (SHBA). Inter- and intra-run precision for the quality control samples were less than 5.3% and 4.4% for all analytes; and the overall accuracy was within ±5.7% of the nominal values. The validated bioanalytical methods demonstrated excellent sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and precision and were successfully applied to a rat toxicology study under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practices (GLP). Strategies have been developed and applied toward overcoming the challenges related to analyte stability, and environmental and endogenous background.

Improved ruggedness of an ion-pairing liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry assay for the quantitative analysis of the triphosphate metabolite of a nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.

RATIONALE: Nucleotide analogs are highly polar and ionic, which impose great challenges on bioanalysis. Ion-pairing liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) is the predominant reported approach for such compounds. Assay ruggedness of ion-pairing LC/MS/MS methods was often a challenge due to the potential contamination of the ion source of the mass spectrometer and LC column performance deterioration caused by ion-pairing reagents. METHODS: An ion-pairing reagent was only added to the reconstitution solution to minimize its exposure to the MS ion source. To achieve optimum sensitivity, high pH mobile phases and negative ion ESI were needed for the LC/MS/MS method. However, high pH mobile phases led to the accumulation of ion-pairing reagent on the analytical column, which was washed off with an acidic solution to restore the column performance. In addition, isopropanol was used as a mobile phase modifier to improve peak shape and sensitivity. RESULTS: The limit of detection was established at 1.0 ng/mL in the cell lysate. The calibration curve showed good linearity over the range of 1.0 to 100 ng/mL. The overall accuracy was no less than 87.7% based on four levels of quality control samples. Inter-run precision and intra-run precision across four analytical runs for low, geometric, medium and high QCs were less than 12.9. CONCLUSIONS: By identifying and addressing the root cause of the assay ruggedness problem, we have developed a rugged ion-pairing LC/MS/MS method for a triphosphate (TP) metabolite of BMS-986001 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The new method overcame challenges such as a rapid deterioration of the peak shape, increased carryover and extremely poor column life. The peak shape was well maintained throughout multiple analytical runs. This method has been successfully applied to a toxicology study in cynomolgus monkey.

Fit-for-purpose bioanalytical cross-validation for LC-MS/MS assays in clinical studies.

The paradigm shift of globalized research and conducting clinical studies at different geographic locations worldwide to access broader patient populations has resulted in increased need of correlating bioanalytical results generated in multiple laboratories, often across national borders. Cross-validations of bioanalytical methods are often implemented to assure the equivalency of the bioanalytical results is demonstrated. Regulatory agencies, such as the US FDA and European Medicines Agency, have included the requirement of cross-validations in their respective bioanalytical validation guidance and guidelines. While those documents provide high-level expectations, the detailed implementation is at the discretion of each individual organization. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we practice a fit-for-purpose approach for conducting cross-validations for small-molecule bioanalytical methods using LC-MS/MS. A step-by-step proposal on the overall strategy, procedures and technical details for conducting a successful cross-validation is presented herein. A case study utilizing the proposed cross-validation approach to rule out method variability as the potential cause for high variance observed in PK studies is also presented.

Overcoming bioanalytical challenges in an Onglyza(®) intravenous [(14)C]microdose absolute bioavailability study with accelerator MS.

BACKGROUND: An absolute bioavailability study that utilized an intravenous [(14)C]microdose was conducted for saxagliptin (Onglyza(®)), a marketed drug product for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Concentrations of [(14)C]saxagliptin were determined by accelerator MS (AMS) after protein precipitation, chromatographic separation by UPLC and analyte fraction collection. A series of investigative experiments were conducted to maximize the release of the drug from high-affinity receptors and nonspecific adsorption, and to determine a suitable quantitation range. RESULTS: A technique-appropriate validation demonstrated the accuracy, precision, specificity, stability and recovery of the AMS methodology across the concentration range of 0.025 to 15.0 dpm/ml (disintegration per minute per milliliter), the equivalent of 1.91-1144 pg/ml. Based on the study sample analysis, the mean absolute bioavailability of saxagliptin was 50% in the eight subjects with a CV of 6.6%. Incurred sample reanalysis data fell well within acceptable limits. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that the optimized sample pretreatment and chromatographic separation procedures were critical for the successful implementation of an UPLC plus AMS method for [(14)C]saxagliptin. The use of multiple-point standards are useful, particularly during method development and validation, to evaluate and correct for concentration-dependent recovery, if observed, and to monitor and control process loss and operational variations.

Implementation of high-temperature superficially porous technologies for rapid LC-MS/MS diastereomer bioanalysis.

BACKGROUND: The fast-paced nature of the pharmaceutical industry requires robust bioanalytical methods to endure the high-throughput sample demands of the production environment. RESULTS: A rapid, accurate and precise LC-MS/MS method was developed for the quantitation of a diastereomer quartet in human plasma. Virtually all of the phosphatidylcholine and most of the lysophosphatidylcholine from human plasma were removed using a phospholipid-removing protein precipitation 96-well plate. An Agilent Poroshell SB-C18 2.1 × 50 mm superficially porous column was used at 100°C and 1.2 ml/min to separate a diastereomer quartet in <2.5 min. Peak shape, retention and resolution were maintained over nearly 200 extracted bioanalytical samples under these separation conditions. The method was tested for accuracy and precision; the assay inter-run accuracy and precision were minus 7.2-0.7% and 2.1-11.9%, respectively (n = 18). CONCLUSION: The application of the superficially porous column resulted in twofold response increase and a 2.6-fold reduction in cycle time compared with a 3.5-µm column performing under comparable resolution conditions.