Evaluation of a novel methacrylate‐based protein a resin for the purification of immunoglobulins and Fc‐fusion proteins

Protein A affinity chromatography is a central part of most commercial monoclonal antibody and Fc‐fusion protein purification processes. In the last couple years an increasing number of new Protein A technologies have emerged. One of these new Protein A technologies consists of a novel, alkaline‐tolerant, Protein A ligand coupled to a macroporous polymethacrylate base matrix that has been optimized for immunoglobulin (Ig) G capture. The resin is interesting from a technology perspective because the particle size and pore distribution of the base beads are reported to have been optimized for high IgG binding and fast mass transfer, while the Protein A ligand has been engineered for enhanced alkaline tolerance. This resin was subjected to a number of technical studies including evaluating dynamic and static binding capacities, alkaline stability, Protein A leachate propensity, impurity clearance, and pressure–flow behavior. The results demonstrated similar static binding capacities as those achieved with industry standard agarose Protein A resins, but marginally lower dynamic binding capacities. Removal of impurities from the process stream, particularly host cell proteins, was molecule dependent, but in most instances matched the performance of the agarose resins. This resin was stable in 0.1 M NaOH for at least 100 h with little loss in binding capacity, with Protein A ligand leakage levels comparable to values for the agarose resins. Pressure–flow experiments in lab‐scale chromatography columns demonstrated minimal resin compression at typical manufacturing flow rates. Prediction of resin compression in manufacturing scale columns did not suggest any pressure limitations upon scale up. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 30:1125–1136, 2014     

Maximizing the functional lifetime of Protein A resins

Protein A chromatography is currently the industry gold‐standard for monoclonal antibody and Fc‐fusion protein purification. The high cost of Protein A, however, makes resin lifetime and resin reuse an important factor for process economics. Typical resin lifetime studies performed in the industry usually examine the effect of resin re‐use on binding capacity, yield, and product quality without answering the fundamental question of what is causing the decrease in performance. A two part mechanistic study was conducted in an attempt to decouple the effect of the two possible factors (resin hydrolysis and/or degradation vs. resin fouling) on column performance over lifetime of the most commonly used alkali‐stable Protein A resins (MabSelect SuRe and MabSelect SuRe LX). The change in binding capacity as a function of sodium hydroxide concentration (rate of hydrolysis), temperature, and stabilizing additives was examined. Additionally, resin extraction studies and product cycling studies were conducted to determine cleaning effectiveness (resin fouling) of various cleaning strategies. Sodium hydroxide‐based cleaning solutions were shown to be more effective at preventing resin fouling. Conversely, cold temperature and the use of stabilizing additives in conjunction with sodium hydroxide were found to be beneficial in minimizing the rate of Protein A ligand hydrolysis. An effective and robust cleaning strategy is presented here to maximize resin lifetime and thereby the number of column cycles for future manufacturing processes. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:708–715, 2017     

Improved protein A resin for antibody capture in a continuous countercurrent tangential chromatography system

Continuous countercurrent tangential chromatography (CCTC) enables steady-state continuous bioprocessing with low-pressure operation and high productivity. CCTC has been applied to initial capture of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) from clarified cell culture harvest and postcapture polishing of mAb; however, these studies were performed with commercial chromatography resins designed for conventional column chromatography. In this study, a small particle size prototype agarose resin (20–25 µm) with lower cross-linking was co-developed with industrial partner Purolite and tested with CCTC. Due to increased binding capacity and faster kinetics, the resulting CCTC process showed more than a 2X increase in productivity, and a 2X reduction in buffer consumption over commercial protein A resins used in previous CCTC studies, as well as more than a 10X productivity increase versus conventional column operation. Single-pass tangential flow filtration was integrated with the CCTC system, enabling simple control of eluate concentration. A scale-up exercise was conducted to provide a quantitative comparison of CCTC and batch column chromatography. These results clearly demonstrate opportunities for using otherwise unpackable soft small particle size resins with CCTC as the core of a continuous bioprocessing platform.     

Antibody Binding Heterogeneity of Protein A Resins

Protein A affinity chromatography is a core unit operation in antibody manufacturing. Nevertheless, there is not enough understanding of in‐column antibody adsorption in the Protein A capture step. This work aims to investigate in situ the establishment of an antibody (trastuzumab) layer during Protein A chromatography both in terms of energetic contributions and uptake kinetics. Flow microcalorimetry is employed as a technique with an in situ operating detector, which provides an understanding of the thermodynamics of the adsorption process. In addition, the antibody uptake rate is also investigated in order to establish a correlation between its diffusion on the stationary phase and the associated thermodynamics. Two resins with different particle size, intraparticle porosity, and a Protein A ligand structure are studied: the synthetically engineered B‐domain tetrameric MabSelect SuRe and the synthetically engineered C‐domain hexameric TOYOPEARL AF‐rProtein A HC. The uptake rate follows a pore diffusion model at low equilibrium time, showing a slower diffusivity after a certain time because of the heterogeneous binding nature of these two resins. In addition, the microcalorimetric studies show that adsorption enthalpy is highly favourable at low isotherm concentrations and evolves toward an equilibrium with increasing surface concentration. These data suggest that the relationship between adsorption enthalpy and the establishment of the antibody layer in the Protein A chain is consistent with heterogeneous adsorption.     

Binding capacity differences for antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins on protein A chromatographic materials

A range of studies were carried out to investigate the underlying reason for differences in dynamic binding capacities observed with various antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins during Protein A chromatography. Dynamic binding capacities were determined for these biomolecules using different protein A stationary phase materials. SEC was carried out to determine the relative sizes of the antibodies and fusion proteins. Pore diffusivities and static binding capacities were also determined on these Protein A resin materials. Trends in the dynamic binding capacities for these molecules did not correlate with differences in pore diffusion coefficients as might be expected for a mass transfer limited system. Instead, dynamic binding capacities were seen to follow the same trends as the static binding capacities and the apparent size of the molecules. Differences in static binding capacities were attributed to be due to differences in steric factor between the molecules. Solution binding stoichiometry studies were employed to estimate intra-Protein A steric effects while binding to the various domains within a Protein A ligand. In addition, steric hindrance was also found to exist between adjacent immobilized Protein A ligands on the chromatographic surface. The combination of intra and inter Protein A steric hindrances can explain differences in binding capacities observed between various antibody and Fc fusion proteins. The effect of Protein A ligand density on these supports was also examined and the results indicate that increasing Protein A ligand density leads to a situation of diminishing returns for binding capacity due to increased steric hindrance on the resin surface. The results presented in this paper show that steric hindrances can dominate over mass transfer effects in causing capacity variation between different molecules on the same stationary phase. This can lead to the development of more cost-efficient chromatographic stationary phases as well as provide information during the selection of Protein A media for preparative purification of monoclonal antibodies and Fc fusion proteins.     

Optimization of a calcium-dependent Protein A-derived domain for mild antibody purification

ABSTRACT

As reported here, we developed and optimized a purification matrix based on a Protein A-derived domain, Z_Ca, displaying calcium-dependent antibody binding. It provides an alternative to the acidic elution conditions of conventional Protein A affinity chromatography for purification of sensitive antibodies and other Fc-based molecules. We describe the multimerization of Z_Ca to generate a chromatography resin with higher binding capacity. The highest order multimeric variant, Z_CaTetraCys, demonstrated a considerably high dynamic binding capacity (35 mg IgG/ml resin) while preserving the specificity for IgG. High recovery was obtained and host cell protein and DNA content in purified fractions proved to be comparable to commercial MabSelect SuRe and MabSelect PrismA. Various elution conditions for use of this domain in antibody purification were investigated. The purification data presented here revealed variations in the interaction of different subclasses of human IgG with Z_CaTetraCys. This resulted in diverse elution properties for the different IgGs, where complete elution of all captured antibody for IgG2 and IgG4 was possible at neutral pH. This optimized protein ligand and the proposed purification method offer a unique strategy for effective and mild purification of antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins that cannot be purified under conventional acidic elution conditions due to aggregation formation or loss of function.     

Model-based rational strategy for chromatographic resin selection

A model-based rational strategy for the selection of chromatographic resins is presented. The main question being addressed is that of selecting the most optimal chromatographic resin from a few promising alternatives. The methodology starts with chromatographic modeling,parameters acquisition, and model validation, followed by model-based optimization of the chromatographic separation for the resins of interest. Finally, the resins are rationally evaluated based on their optimized operating conditions and performance metrics such as product purity, yield, concentration, throughput, productivity, and cost. Resin evaluation proceeds by two main approaches. In the first approach, Pareto frontiers from multi-objective optimization of conflicting objectives are overlaid for different resins, enabling direct visualization and comparison of resin performances based on the feasible solution space. The second approach involves the transformation of the resin performances into weighted resin scores, enabling the simultaneous consideration of multiple performance metrics and the setting of priorities. The proposed model-based resin selection strategy was illustrated by evaluating three mixed mode adsorbents (ADH, PPA, and HEA) for the separation of a ternary mixture of bovine serum albumin, ovalbumin, and amyloglucosidase. In order of decreasing weighted resin score or performance, the top three resins for this separation were ADH [PPA[HEA. The proposed model-based approach could be a suitable alternative to column scouting during process development, the main strengths being that minimal experimentation is required and resins are evaluated under their ideal working conditions, enabling a fair comparison. This work also demonstrates the application of column modeling and optimization to mixed mode chromatography.     

Antibody variable region interactions with Protein A: implications for the development of generic purification processes

In this paper, a wide range of antibodies from various subclasses and subfamilies are employed to evaluate the creation of generic separation processes using Protein A chromatography. The reasons for elution pH differences amongst several IgG1s, IgG2s, antibody fragments, and Fc-fusion proteins during Protein A chromatography are investigated using several complimentary techniques. The results indicate that variable region interactions play a major role in determining elution pH for VH3 subfamily antibodies while using traditional protein A chromatographic materials. On the other hand, experiments with a resin which employs a ligand consisting solely of B domain of Protein A indicate that variable region interactions can be mitigated, enabling the use of a single elution pH for a range of antibodies. Finally, the moderation of elution conditions associated with this engineered ligand are shown to minimize problems associated with low pH induced aggregation. It is expected that the findings reported in this paper will facilitate faster process development cycle times for this important class of human therapeutics.     

Biodiesel production using anionic ion-exchange resin as heterogeneous catalyst

The transesterification reactions of triolein with ethanol using various ion-exchange resin catalysts were conducted to produce ethyl oleate as a biodiesel. The anion-exchange resins exhibited much higher catalytic activities than the cation-exchange resin. The anion-exchange resin with a lower cross-linking density and a smaller particle size gave a high reaction rate as well as a high conversion. By combining the three-step regeneration method, the resin could be repeatedly used for the batch transesterification without any loss in the catalytic activity. A continuous transesterification reaction was carried out using an expanded bed reactor packed with the most active resin. The reactor system permitted the continuous production of ethyl oleate with a high conversion.     

Plasmid DNA purification using a multimodal chromatography resin

Multimodal chromatography is widely used for isolation of proteins because it often results in improved selectivity compared to conventional separation resins. The binding potential and chromatographic behavior of plasmid DNA have here been examined on a Capto Adhere resin. Capto Adhere is a recent multimodal chromatography material allowing molecular recognition between the ligand and target molecule, which is based on combined ionic and aromatic interactions. Capto Adhere proved to offer a very strong binding of nucleic acids. This property could be used to isolate plasmid DNA from a crude Escherichia coli extract. Using a stepwise NaCl gradient, pure plasmid DNA could be obtained without protein and endotoxin contaminations. The RNA fraction bound most strongly to the resin and could be eluted only at very high salt concentrations (2.0 M NaCl). The chromatographic separation behavior was very robust between pH values 6 and 9, and the dynamic binding capacity was estimated to 60 µg/ml resin. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Catch and release of concanavalin A by a mannose-immobilized photoaffinity PEGA resin coupled with a cleavable disulfide linker

A photoaffinity PEGA resin containing mannose as a ligand and disulfide as a cleavable linker was prepared. The resin was crosslinked to concanavalin A, a binding protein of mannose, by UV irradiation, and the protein was subsequently released by cleavage of the disulfide linker.     

Importance of surface properties of affinity resin for capturing a target protein,Cyclooxygenase-1

We have prepared affinity resins based on two kinds of solid phases, including a commercially available solid phase, to re-realize the importance of surface properties of affinity resins such as controlled ligand density as well as existential surroundings of the ligand. Affinity resins were prepared using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as Ketoprofen, Ibuprofen, and Aspirin, having different activities as ligands. The ligand density was controlled through two different strategies: one strategy was that the solid phases having different amino group densities (20, 60, 100, 125 μmol/ml) were utilized then, Ketoprofen was fully immobilized through condensation reaction to amino groups; another strategy was that a solid phase having amino group density (125 μmol/ml) was utilized then, each ligand was immobilized with controlled immobilization rate. In addition, a typical hydrophobic group, stearoyl group (C₁₈ group), was immobilized on the affinity resin with controlled ligand immobilization rate to change the existential surroundings of the ligand. Affinity tests were performed for Cyclooxgenase-1 (COX-1) as it was the target protein in this work. The amount of captured COX-1 was evaluated utilizing each affinity resin. It was suggested that the density of surface ligand tends to relate to the amount of captured COX-1 on our solid phase-based affinity resins; however, several exceptions occurred according to the surface properties of affinity resins in the case of commercial one.     

The role of more than 40 years of improvement in protein A chromatography in the growth of the therapeutic antibody industry

Protein A chromatography has been used as the mAb capture step in the majority of FDA submissions. In this study, the performance of protein A chromatography, as indicated by capacity, operational flow rate, and productivity (rate of mAb production per liter of resin) was examined over its full history to gain insights into the reasons for its consistent use. Protein A productivity and capacity have increased 4.3 and 5.5% a year, respectively, since 1978. In contrast, protein A operational flow rate increased between 1978 and 2001 and then remained constant or declined as further improvements provided only marginal benefits. The productivity of protein A resin and also the mAb bioreactor titer (14% growth) rapidly improved starting in about 1990 to economically provide material for clinical trials. Technology improvement is typically driven by product sales. The sales of protein A resin, as indicated by sales of protein A ligand (21% growth), have closely paralleled the sales of mAbs (20% growth). Both increased rapidly in 2000 after the first major mAb therapeutics were approved and the markets were developed. It is likely that alternatives to protein A chromatography have not been implemented because of the order of magnitude improvement in protein A performance. Protein A membrane adsorbers and monoliths have higher productivity than packed columns due to their short bed heights and high operational flow rates. These devices are not currently practical for large‐scale manufacturing but may represent a format for future improvements in protein A productivity. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 32:1193–1202, 2016     

Observations on different resin strategies for affinity purification mass spectrometry of a tagged protein

Co-affinity purification mass spectrometry (CoAP-MS) is a highly effective method for identifying protein complexes from a biological sample and inferring important interactions, but the impact of the solid support is usually not considered in design of such experiments. Affinity purification (AP) experiments typically utilize a bait protein expressing a peptide tag such as FLAG, c-Myc, HA or V5 and high affinity antibodies to these peptide sequences to facilitate isolation of a bait protein to co-purify interacting proteins. We observed significant variability for isolation of tagged bait proteins between Protein A/G Agarose, Protein G Dynabeads, and AminoLink resins. While previous research identified the importance of tag sequence and their location, crosslinking procedures, reagents, dilution, and detergent concentrations, the effect of the resin itself has not been considered. Our data suggest the type of solid support is important and, under the conditions of our experiments, AminoLink resin provided a more robust solid-support platform for AP-MS.     

Evaluating multiproduct chromatography Protein A resin reuse for monoclonal antibodies in biopharmaceutical manufacturing

In good manufacturing practice (GMP) facilities in the biopharmaceutical industry, chromatography resins are largely underutilized during purification of single drug products during clinical production. Chromatography resins are dedicated to a specific product and disposed of, after only a fraction of their lifetime due to concerns of potential product carryover from one program to another. In this study, we follow a resin lifetime methodology typically used for commercial submissions and apply it to determine the feasibility of purifying different products on a Protein A MabSelect PrismA™ resin. Three distinct monoclonal antibodies were used as model molecules. Column performance was monitored through chromatogram profiles, yield, clearance capability of selected media components, pressure and product quality. A protein carryover study was designed to demonstrate that the column cleaning procedures reduced protein carryover to safe cleanliness levels regardless of multiple product contact cycles and the order in which the mAbs are captured. Data show that up to 90 total cycles (30 cycles per antibody), there was negligible protein carryover and impact on process performance. Product quality was consistent, with the only meaningful trends found for the leached Protein A ligand, without affecting the conclusion of the study. While the study was restricted to three antibodies, the proof of concept for resin reuse was demonstrated.     

Real‐time monitoring and control of the load phase of a protein A capture step

The load phase in preparative Protein A capture steps is commonly not controlled in real‐time. The load volume is generally based on an offline quantification of the monoclonal antibody (mAb) prior to loading and on a conservative column capacity determined by resin‐life time studies. While this results in a reduced productivity in batch mode, the bottleneck of suitable real‐time analytics has to be overcome in order to enable continuous mAb purification. In this study, Partial Least Squares Regression (PLS) modeling on UV/Vis absorption spectra was applied to quantify mAb in the effluent of a Protein A capture step during the load phase. A PLS model based on several breakthrough curves with variable mAb titers in the HCCF was successfully calibrated. The PLS model predicted the mAb concentrations in the effluent of a validation experiment with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.06 mg/mL. The information was applied to automatically terminate the load phase, when a product breakthrough of 1.5 mg/mL was reached. In a second part of the study, the sensitivity of the method was further increased by only considering small mAb concentrations in the calibration and by subtracting an impurity background signal. The resulting PLS model exhibited a RMSE of prediction of 0.01 mg/mL and was successfully applied to terminate the load phase, when a product breakthrough of 0.15 mg/mL was achieved. The proposed method has hence potential for the real‐time monitoring and control of capture steps at large scale production. This might enhance the resin capacity utilization, eliminate time‐consuming offline analytics, and contribute to the realization of continuous processing. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 368–373. © 2016 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Investigation of Factors Affecting the Bioregeneration Process for Perchlorate-Laden Gel-Type Anion-Exchange Resin

Ion exchange is the most common process for perchlorate removal from waters. Selective ion-exchange resins are widely used for perchlorate removal from waters, but are incinerated after one-time use, making the ion-exchange process incomplete for perchlorate removal. As perchlorate ions are readily biodegradable, direct contact of spent ion-exchange resins with perchlorate-reducing bacteria for its regeneration has been studied recently. In this research, some factors affecting the bioregeneration of perchlorate-laden gel-type anion-exchange resin were investigated. Bioregeneration is a sustainable process when compared to one-time use of resin and disposal by incineration. Batch bioregeneration experiments were performed to determine (a) the effect of initial perchlorate load in the resin, (b) the effect of microbial concentration, and (c) the effect of nitrate load on the degradation of perchlorate in the resin bead. The results of the bioregeneration tests suggested that the bioregeneration process may be controlled by both kinetics and diffusion. Higher perchlorate load in the resin had a positive effect on perchlorate degradation rates, whereas varying microbial concentration did not have a significant effect on perchlorate degradation in gel-type resin. The presence of nitrate suppressed perchlorate degradation initially, but once all nitrate was utilized, perchlorate degradation took place.     

Weak partitioning chromatography for anion exchange purification of monoclonal antibodies

Weak partitioning chromatography (WPC) is an isocratic chromatographic protein separation method performed under mobile phase conditions where a significant amount of the product protein binds to the resin, well in excess of typical flowthrough operations. The more stringent load and wash conditions lead to improved removal of more tightly binding impurities, although at the cost of a reduction in step yield. The step yield can be restored by extending the column load and incorporating a short wash at the end of the load stage. The use of WPC with anion exchange resins enables a two-column cGMP purification platform to be used for many different mAbs. The operating window for WPC can be easily established using high throughput batch-binding screens. Under conditions that favor very strong product binding, competitive effects from product binding can give rise to a reduction in column loading capacity. Robust performance of WPC anion exchange chromatography has been demonstrated in multiple cGMP mAb purification processes. Excellent clearance of host cell proteins, leached Protein A, DNA, high molecular weight species, and model virus has been achieved.     

A rapid method of gene detection using DNA bound to Sephacryl

A rapid method of gene detection has been developed utilising DNA fragments immobilized on resins and a sandwich hybridization assay. This method permits the detection of restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) without the need to immobilize sample DNA. The method is based on the use of two non-overlapping DNA restriction fragments, one of which is attached to a resin (fragment A) and the other 32P-labelled (fragment B). Fragments A and B will not hybridize to each other unless there is a DNA or RNA fragment capable of hybridizing to both A and B present in the same reaction. Hybridization in this instance will result in the resin being radioactively labelled. The RFLP associated with the mutation causing sickle-cell anaemia was used as a model to develop the method. The resin Sephacryl S-500 appeared most suited to our method for two reasons: (i) DNA immobilization experiments using two coupling procedures and four resins indicated that Sephacryl S-500 bound the most DNA with very little non-covalent coupling. (ii) Hybridization experiments with DNA bound to a number of resins showed that DNA bound to Sephacryl S-500 hybridized most efficiently with a low level of nonspecific hybridization. Using optimum hybridization conditions 5 X 10(-18) mol of beta-globin DNA could be detected. The method has been used to distinguish between DNA from sickle, heterozygote and normal patients.     

Diosmin binding to human serum albumin and its preventive action against degradation due to oxidative injuries

Diosmin is a glycosylated polyphenolic compound, commonly found in fruits and vegetables, which is utilized for the pharmacological formulation of some drugs. The interactions of diosmin to human serum albumin have been investigated by fluorescence, UV–visible, FTIR spectroscopy, native electrophoresis and protein–ligand docking studies. The fluorescence studies indicate that the binding site of the additive involves modifications of environment around Trp214 at the level of subdomain IIA. Combining the curve-fitting results of infrared Amide I′ band, the modifications of protein secondary structure have been estimated, indicating a decrease in α-helix structure following flavonoid binding. Data obtained by fluorescence and UV–visible spectroscopy, FTIR experiments and molecular modeling afforded a clear picture of the association mode of diosmin to HSA, suggesting that the primary binding site of diosmin is located in Sudlow's site I. Computational mapping confirms this observation suggesting that the possible binding site of diosmin is located in the hydrophobic cavity of subdomain IIA, whose microenvironment is able to help and stabilize the binding of the ligand in non-planar conformation. Moreover the binding of diosmin to HSA significantly contributes to protect the protein against degradation due to HCLO and Fenton reaction.