Determining Spectroscopic Quantitation Limits for Misfolded Structures

September 25, 2019

Title

Determining Spectroscopic Quantitation Limits for Misfolded Structures

Author

Brent S. Kendrick, John Gabrielson, Eugene Ma, Libo Wang

Year

2019

Journal

Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Abstract

Protein secondary structures are frequently assessed using infrared and circular dichroism spectroscopies during drug development (e.g. during product comparability and/or biosimilarity studies, reference standard characterization, etc.) However, there is little information on the lower limits of quantitation of structural misfolds and/or impurities for these methods. A model system employing a monoclonal antibody reference material was spiked at various levels with a protein that had a significantly different secondary structure to represent the presence of a stable and discreet structural misfold. The ability of circular dichroism (CD) and two infrared spectroscopic techniques, transmission Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and microfluidic modulation spectroscopy (MMS), along with various spectral comparison algorithms, were assessed for their ability to detect the presence and quantify the amount of the misfolded structure.

Instrument

FT/IR-6600, J-1500

Keywords

fourier transform infrared (FTIR), circular dichroism, spectroscopy, biopharmaceutical characterization, biosimilars, analytical biochemistry