Neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) is the homeostatic receptor responsible for the long half-life of endogenous IgG by protecting it from lysosomal degradation. Understanding systemic FcRn tissue expression ...is important to predict and design the half-life of therapeutic antibodies and Fc-coupled biotherapeutics. To this end, we measured human FcRn (hFcRn) tissue expression in Tg32, a human FcRn knock-in transgenic mouse model, for which a strong correlation of drug clearance to humans has been demonstrated. Building an hFcRn tissue expression profile in Tg32 was enabled by the development of a tissue preparation procedure composed of bead-based protein extraction and protein precipitation using acetone followed by pellet digestion with trypsin. Digests were then loaded onto an online peptide immuno-affinity flow configuration hyphenated with reversed phase nanoflow chromatography and coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry to quantify hFcRn derived peptides. The workflow allowed bypassing some of the challenges typically associated with membrane protein analysis. We demonstrated acceptable precision and bias for measuring hFcRn in tissue matrices, typically within 20% coefficient of variation and relative error. We also report hFcRn expression in several Tg32 tissues. We anticipate that establishing a quantitative approach for hFcRn in tissues will enable the systematic measurement of hFcRn concentrations to further increase the accuracy of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models for PK prediction of Fc-containing biotherapeutics. This is anticipated to improve the translation of pharmacokinetic data from preclinical model systems to humans.
A highly specific and sensitive immunoaffinity LC-MS/MS assay for quantification of human and cynomolgus monkey interleukin 21 (IL-21) was developed, qualified, and implemented. The workflow includes ...offline enrichment of IL-21 using an anti-IL-21 capture antibody, followed by isolation using magnetic beads, trypsin digestion, online enrichment of IL-21 derived tryptic peptides using antipeptide antibodies, and quantification using nanoflow LC-MS/MS. This assay was developed and qualified in human and cynomolgus monkey serum and tissues with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.78 pg/mL based on the intact cytokine. Both intra- and interbatch precision and accuracy, as well as stability and recovery, were found to be acceptable. IL-21 was not detected in serum from normal healthy volunteers or from autoimmune disease patients. However, IL-21 levels were quantified in cynomolgus monkey spleen and colon tissue and normal and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) human colon tissue as well as hyperplasia human tonsils.
Immunoaffinity-mass spectrometry (IA-MS) is an emerging analytical genre with several advantages for profiling and determination of protein biomarkers. Because IA-MS combines affinity capture, ...analogous to ligand binding assays (LBAs), with mass spectrometry (MS) detection, this platform is often described using the term hybrid methods. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the principles of IA-MS and to demonstrate, through application, the unique power and potential of this technology. By combining target immunoaffinity enrichment with the use of stable isotope-labeled internal standards and MS detection, IA-MS achieves high sensitivity while providing unparalleled specificity for the quantification of protein biomarkers in fluids and tissues. In recent years, significant uptake of IA-MS has occurred in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the early stages of clinical development, enabling biomarker measurement previously considered unattainable. By comparison, IA-MS adoption by CLIA laboratories has occurred more slowly. Current barriers to IA-MS use and opportunities for expanded adoption are discussed. The path forward involves identifying applications for which IA-MS is the best option compared with LBA or MS technologies alone. IA-MS will continue to benefit from advances in reagent generation, more sensitive and higher throughput MS technologies, and continued growth in use by the broader analytical community. Collectively, the pursuit of these opportunities will secure expanded long-term use of IA-MS for clinical applications.
β-Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neurotrophin that plays a critical role in fetal development during gestation. ProNGF is the precursor form of NGF with a distinct biological profile. In order to ...investigate the role of NGF and proNGF in pregnant human females, a sensitive and selective immunoaffinity liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay was developed and qualified to simultaneously measure the levels of total NGF (tNGF; sum of mature and proNGF) and proNGF using full and relative quantification strategies, respectively. The assay was used to determine serum tNGF and proNGF levels in the three gestational trimesters of pregnancy and in non-pregnant female controls. Mean tNGF ± SD were 44.6 ± 12.3, 42.6 ± 9.3, 65.4 ± 17.6 and 77.0 ± 17.8 pg/mL for non-pregnant, first, second, and third trimesters, respectively, demonstrating no significant increase in circulating tNGF between the control and the first trimester, and a moderate yet significant 1.7-fold increase through gestation. proNGF levels during the first trimester were unchanged compared to control. In contrast to tNGF, however, proNGF levels during gestation remained stable without significant changes. The development of this sensitive, novel immunoaffinity duplexed assay for both tNGF and proNGF is expected to enable further elucidation of the roles these neurotrophins play in human pregnancy as well as other models.
Advanced single-cell analysis technologies (e.g., mass cytometry) that help in multiplexing cellular measurements in limited-volume primary samples are critical in bridging discovery efforts to ...successful drug approval. Mass cytometry is the state-of-the-art technology in multiparametric single-cell analysis. Mass cytometers (also known as cytometry by time-of-flight or CyTOF) combine the cellular analysis principles of traditional fluorescence-based flow cytometry with the selectivity and quantitative power of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Standard flow cytometry is limited in the number of parameters that can be measured owing to the overlap in signal when detecting fluorescently labeled antibodies. Mass cytometry uses antibodies tagged to stable isotopes of rare earth metals, which requires minimal signal compensation between the different metal tags. This unique feature enables researchers to seamlessly multiplex up to 40 independent measurements on single cells. In this overview we first present an overview of mass cytometry and compare it with traditional flow cytometry. We then discuss the emerging and potential applications of CyTOF technology in the pharmaceutical industry, including quantitative and qualitative deep profiling of immune cells and their applications in assessing drug immunogenicity, extensive mapping of signaling networks in single cells, cell surface receptor quantification and multiplexed internalization kinetics, multiplexing sample analysis by barcoding, and establishing cell ontologies on the basis of phenotype and/or function. We end with a discussion of the anticipated impact of this technology on drug development lifecycle with special emphasis on the utility of mass cytometry in deciphering a drug's pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics relationship.
An immunoaffinity liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method was developed for the quantitation of the zinc endopeptidase matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) from mouse serum. ...Sample preparation for the assay included magnetic bead-based enrichment using an MMP-9 antibody and was performed in a 96-well plate format using a liquid-handling robotic platform. The surrogate peptide GSPLQGPFLTAR derived from MMP-9 by trypsin digestion was monitored using an on-line capillary flow trap–release chromatography setup incorporating a series of trap columns (C18, strong cation exchange, and another C18) prior to nanoflow chromatography and nanospray ionization with selected reaction monitoring (SRM) detection. The assay was fit-for-purpose validated and found to be accurate (<15% interbatch relative error) and precise (<15% interbatch coefficient of variation) across a range from 0.03 to 7.3
nM mouse MMP-9. Finally, the method was employed to measure MMP-9 concentrations in 30 naïve mouse serum samples, and results were compared with those obtained by an immunoassay.
A principal product of the reaction between a protein cysteinyl thiol and hydrogen peroxide is a protein sulfenic acid. Because protein sulfenic acid formation is reversible, it provides a mechanism ...whereby changes in cellular hydrogen peroxide concentration may directly control protein function. We have developed methods for the detection and purification of proteins oxidized in this way. The methodology is based on the arsenite-specific reduction of protein sulfenic acid under denaturing conditions and their subsequent labeling with biotin-maleimide. Arsenite-dependent signal generation was fully blocked by pretreatment with dimedone, consistent with its reactivity with sulfenic acids to form a covalent adduct that is nonreducible by thiols. The biotin tag facilitates the detection of protein sulfenic acids on Western blots probed with streptavidin-horseradish peroxidase and also their purification by streptavidin-agarose. We have characterized protein sulfenic acid formation in isolated hearts subjected to hydrogen peroxide treatment. We have also purified and identified a number of the proteins that are oxidized in this way by using a proteomic approach. Using Western immunoblotting we demonstrated that a highly significant proportion of some individual proteins (68% of total in one case) form the sulfenic derivative. We conclude that protein sulfenic acids are widespread physiologically relevant posttranslational oxidative modifications that can be detected at basal levels in healthy tissue, and are elevated in response to hydrogen peroxide. These approaches may find widespread utility in the study of oxidative stress, particularly because hydrogen peroxide is used extensively in models of disease or redox signaling.
Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been shown to be a viable tool for preclinical pharmacokinetic (PK) analysis of monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics. This work ...describes free and total PK assays for the mAb PF-00547,659 in serum of ulcerative colitis patients in a First-In-Human study Vermeire, S. et al. Gut 2011, 60 (8), 1068–1075. The assay to measure free PF-00547,659 used immuno-enrichment with a biotinylated anti-idiotypic antibody and streptavidin magnetic beads. The total assay used enrichment by protein G magnetic beads. Following elution of PF-00547,659 from the beads, addition of an extended sequence stable isotope labeled peptide and trypsin digestion, a proteotypic peptide derived from the CDR region of the light chain of PF-00547,659 was quantified by LC-MS/MS. The free assay had a calibration range from 7.03 ng/mL to 450 ng/mL. The assay was precise and accurate with interbatch imprecision <16.5%, and interbatch inaccuracy <13.7% at all concentrations investigated during assay qualification. Results from LC-MS/MS methodologies are compared with historical immunoassay data originally acquired during the course of the clinical study. PK parameter estimates were highly correlated between the two analytical approaches. This work provides precedence that immunoaffinity LC-MS/MS can effectively be used to measure the serum concentrations of mAb therapeutics in clinical studies.
Therapeutic antibodies continue to develop as an emerging drug class, with a need for preclinical tools to better predict in vivo characteristics. Transgenic mice expressing human neonatal Fc ...receptor (hFcRn) have potential as a preclinical pharmacokinetic (PK) model to project human PK of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). Using a panel of 27 mAbs with a broad PK range, we sought to characterize and establish utility of this preclinical animal model and provide guidance for its application in drug development of mAbs. This set of mAbs was administered to both hemizygous and homozygous hFcRn transgenic mice (Tg32) at a single intravenous dose, and PK parameters were derived. Higher hFcRn protein tissue expression was confirmed by liquid chromatography-high resolution tandem mass spectrometry in Tg32 homozygous versus hemizygous mice. Clearance (CL) was calculated using non-compartmental analysis and correlations were assessed to historical data in wild-type mouse, non-human primate (NHP), and human. Results show that mAb CL in hFcRn Tg32 homozygous mouse correlate with human (r(2) = 0.83, r = 0.91, p < 0.01) better than NHP (r(2) = 0.67, r = 0.82, p < 0.01) for this dataset. Applying simple allometric scaling using an empirically derived best-fit exponent of 0.93 enabled the prediction of human CL from the Tg32 homozygous mouse within 2-fold error for 100% of mAbs tested. Implementing the Tg32 homozygous mouse model in discovery and preclinical drug development to predict human CL may result in an overall decreased usage of monkeys for PK studies, enhancement of the early selection of lead molecules, and ultimately a decrease in the time for a drug candidate to reach the clinic.
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