Multilevel─Intact, Subunits, and Peptides─Characterization of Antibody-Based Therapeutics by a Single-Column LC-MS Setup

Anal Chem. 2025 Mar 11;97(9):5118-5125. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.4c06350. Epub 2025 Feb 25.

Abstract

A comprehensive characterization of biotherapeutics, mandated by regulatory authorities, requires analyses of a protein drug at multiple structure levels. Such multilevel characterization can be performed by mass spectrometry (MS), with established conventional MS-based assays of product quality attributes (PQAs) comprising intact protein and subunit middle-up MS with analytes resolved on a C4 column, and bottom-up peptide mapping with analytes resolved on a C18 column. Recent advances in MS have facilitated the increasing use of middle-down analysis, expanding the qualitative analytical capability of MS for protein characterization. Recent studies using less-retentive reversed-phase LC in bottom-up MS also offer an opportunity for streamlining equipment configuration to a single-column LC-MS setup for multilevel characterization of therapeutic proteins. In this study, we developed a robust middle-down LC-MS method on a ZenoTOF 7600 and evaluated a C4 LC-MS setup for the characterization of NISTmAb, RG7221 bispecific antibody (bsAb), and Fc-fusion etanercept by intact protein, subunit middle-up/down, and bottom-up analyses. Successful multilevel characterization of the analytes using C4 LC-MS was demonstrated; notably, high sequence coverage and comprehensive post-translational modification profiling, including the mapping of all 13 O- and 3 N-glycosylation sites on etanercept in a single run, were obtained by bottom-up C4 LC-MS. This is also the first report on middle-down analysis of the major etanercept TNFR and Fc subunit glycoforms. A streamlined single-column LC-MS setup will enable more robust and efficient MS workflows for PQA assessment and simplify the integration of an LC-MS analyzer as a process analytical technology instrument for biopharma applications.

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Bispecific* / analysis
  • Antibodies, Bispecific* / chemistry
  • Chromatography, Liquid / methods
  • Humans
  • Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Mass Spectrometry* / methods
  • Peptides* / analysis
  • Peptides* / chemistry

Substances

  • Peptides
  • Antibodies, Bispecific