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Accurate Determination of Drug-To-Antibody Ratio of Interchain Cysteine-Linked Antibody-Drug Conjugates by LC-HRMS
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry
  • Ke Li
  • Zhiling Zhang
  • Zhongping (John) Lin
  • Honglan Shi, Missouri University of Science and Technology
  • Yinfa Ma, Missouri University of Science and Technology
Abstract

Accurate determination of the drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) of interchain cysteine-linked antibody—drug conjugates (ADCs) is challenging. High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analysis of the ADCs at the intact or subunit level provides a feasible way to measure the DAR. However, the measured DAR is usually lower than the true DAR because of the variation in ionization efficiency between different DAR species. In this work, we developed a novel standard-free HRMS method involving isotope-labeled payload conjugation, protease digestion, and liquid chromatography—HRMS (LC-HRMS) analysis for accurate determination of the DAR of the interchain cysteine-linked ADCs with cleavable or non-cleavable linkers. Isotope-labeled payload conjugations eliminated the structural and chemical differences between different DAR species and ensured that the drugs or payload-containing peptides could be separated from each other in the mass spectrometer. A papain digestion strategy for ADCs with cleavable linkers showed a DAR of 3.79, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.48 (n = 3). Similarly, the trypsin and chymotrypsin digestion strategy that is applicable to ADCs with non-cleavable linkers showed a DAR of 3.77 and an RSD of 0.86 (n = 3). The DAR determined by this method was consistent with the DAR of the ADCs that was measured by the UV/Vis method. This method will be very useful to researchers working in the field of ADC discovery and development.

Department(s)
Chemistry
Research Center/Lab(s)
Center for Research in Energy and Environment (CREE)
Comments
This study was supported by Frontage Laboratories, Inc. and the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Keywords and Phrases
  • Antibody-drug conjugates,
  • Drug-to-antibody ratio,
  • High-resolution mass spectrometry,
  • Interchain cysteine,
  • On-beads conjugation
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2020 Springer, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
2-1-2020
Publication Date
01 Feb 2020
PubMed ID
31872274
Disciplines
Citation Information
Ke Li, Zhiling Zhang, Zhongping (John) Lin, Honglan Shi, et al.. "Accurate Determination of Drug-To-Antibody Ratio of Interchain Cysteine-Linked Antibody-Drug Conjugates by LC-HRMS" Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Vol. 412 Iss. 4 (2020) p. 833 - 840 ISSN: 1618-2642; 1618-2650
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/honglan-shi/89/