Inter-laboratory Study for Characterizing Monoclonal Antibodies by Top-Down and Middle-Down Mass Spectrometry

The Consortium for Top-Down Proteomics (www.topdownproteomics.org) launched the present study to assess the current state of top-down mass spectrometry (TD MS) and middle-down mass spectrometry (MD MS) for characterizing monoclonal antibody (mAb) primary structures, including their modifications. To meet the needs of the rapidly growing therapeutic antibody market, it is important to develop analytical strategies to characterize the heterogeneity of a therapeutic product’s primary structure accurately and reproducibly. The major objective of the present study is to determine whether current TD/MD MS technologies and protocols can add value to the more commonly employed bottom-up (BU) approaches with regard to confirming protein integrity, sequencing variable domains, avoiding artifacts, and revealing modifications and their locations. We also aim to gather information on the common TD/MD MS methods and practices in the field. A panel of three mAbs was selected and centrally provided to twenty laboratories worldwide for the analysis: Sigma mAb standard (SiLuLite), NIST mAb standard, and the therapeutic mAb Herceptin (trastuzumab). Various MS instrument platforms and ion dissociation techniques were employed. The present study confirms that TD/MD MS tools are available in laboratories worldwide, and provide complementary information to the BU approach that can be crucial for comprehensive mAb characterization. The current limitations, as well as possible solutions to overcome them, are also outlined. A primary limitation revealed by the results of the present study is that the expert knowledge in both experiment and data analysis is indispensable to practice TD/MD MS.

Analysis of Intact Monoclonal Antibody IgG1 by Electron Transfer Dissociation Orbitrap FTMS

Luca Fornelli, Yury Tsybin

The primary structural information of proteins employed as biotherapeutics is essential if one wishes to understand their structure-function relationship, as well as in the rational design of new therapeutics and for quality control. Given both the large size (around 150 kDa) and the structural complexity of intact immunoglobulin G (IgG), which includes a variable number of disulfide bridges, its extensive fragmentation and subsequent sequence determination by means of tandem mass spectrometry (MS) are challenging. Here, we applied electron transfer dissociation (ETD), implemented on a hybrid Orbitrap Fourier transform mass spectrometer (FTMS), to analyze a commercial recombinant IgG in a liquid chromatography (LC)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) top-down experiment. The lack of sensitivity typically observed during the top-down MS of large proteins was addressed by averaging time-domain transients recorded in different LC-MS/MS experiments before performing Fourier transform signal processing. The results demonstrate that an improved signal-to-noise ratio, along with the higher resolution and mass accuracy provided by Orbitrap FTMS (relative to previous applications of top-down ETD-based proteomics on IgG), is essential for comprehensive analysis. Specifically, ETD on Orbitrap FTMS produced about 33% sequence coverage of an intact IgG, signifying an almost 2-fold increase in IgG sequence coverage relative to prior ETD-based analysis of intact monoclonal antibodies of a similar subclass. These results suggest the potential application of the developed methodology to other classes of large proteins and biomolecules. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 11: 10.1074/mcp.M112.019620, 1758-1767, 2012.

Amer Soc Biochemistry Molecular Biology Inc2012

Periodic Sequence Distribution of Product Ion Abundances in Electron Capture Dissociation of Amphipathic Peptides and Proteins

Hisham Ben Hamidane, Yury Tsybin

The rules for product ion formation in electron capture dissociation (ECD) mass spectrometry of peptides and proteins remain unclear. Random backbone cleavage probability and the nonspecific nature of ECD toward amino acid sequence have been reported, contrary to preferential channels of fragmentation in slow heating-based tandem mass spectrometry. Here we demonstrate that for amphipathic peptides and proteins, modulation of ECD product ion abundance (PIA) along the sequence is pronounced. Moreover, because of the specific primary (and presumably secondary) structure of amphipathic peptides, PIA in ECD demonstrates a clear and reproducible periodic sequence distribution. On the one hand, the period of ECD PIA corresponds to periodic distribution of spatially separated hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains within the peptide primary sequence. On the other hand, the same period correlates with secondary structure units, such as a-helical turns, known for solution-phase structure. Based on a number of examples, we formulate a set of characteristic features for ECD of amphipathic peptides and proteins: (1) periodic distribution of PIA is observed and is reproducible in a wide range of ECD parameters and on different experimental platforms; (2) local maxima of PIA are not necessarily located near the charged site; (3) ion activation before ECD not only extends product ion sequence coverage but also preserves ion yield modulation; (4) the most efficient cleavage (e.g. global maximum of ECD PIA distribution) can be remote from the charged site; (5) the number and location of PIA maxima correlate with amino acid hydrophobicity maxima generally to within a single amino acid displacement; and (6) preferential cleavage sites follow a selected hydrogen spine in an a-helical peptide segment. Presently proposed novel insights into ECD behavior are important for advancing understanding of the ECD mechanism, particularly the role of peptide sequence on PIA. An improved ECD model could facilitate protein sequencing and improve identification of unknown proteins in proteomics technologies. In structural biology, the periodic/preferential product ion yield in ECD of a-helical structures potentially opens the way toward de novo site-specific secondary structure determination of peptides and proteins in the gas phase and its correlation with solution-phase structure. (J Am Soc Mass Spectrom 2009, 20, 1182-1192) (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Society for Mass Spectrometry

Springer-Verlag2009

Peptide Structure and Radical Chemistry in the Gas Phase Revealed by Product Ion Abundance Analysis in Electron Capture and Transfer Dissociation Mass Spectrometry

Hisham Ben Hamidane

Peptide and protein ion abundances in mass spectrometry (MS) and tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) may provide orthogonal, or complementary, information to their mass measurements. Collision induced dissociation (CID), the most commonly used MS/MS technique, demonstrates high variability of fragmentation pathways and their relative product abundances as a function of experimental parameters. Moreover, a reliable prediction of relative abundances of CID products is possible only for relatively small systems, but not for larger biomolecules. Recently developed radical-induced fragmentation techniques, e.g., electron capture and transfer dissociation (ECD/ETD), appear to demonstrate more repeatable and reproducible fragmentation patterns. However, it has been reported that ECD/ETD product ion abundance distribution for peptides is rather flat and extracting additional peptide sequence information is yet to be done. In the present work, an attempt is made to understand the peptide's ECD/ETD product ion abundance formation fundamentals and to reveal the possible implications of this source of information for improving peptide and protein structural characterization. Specifically, we have shown that ECD/ETD of peptides is sensitive to the chemical environment in terms of peptide primary structure (amino acid nature) and possibly higher order structure (hydrogen bond connectivity). After demonstrating the analytical validity of the ECD/ETD product ion abundance methodology, its parameter dependence and its applicability to different experimental setups, results will be presented and rationalized along two main axes of comprehension: gas phase peptide radical chemistry and structure. Whereas fundamental aspects of ECD/ETD (mechanism, thermodynamics) can be addressed with the former, additional ECD/ETD yield modulations were observed and presumably relate to structural properties of ions in the gas phase. ECD specificity will be demonstrated on the class of amphipathic peptides, where periodicity is revealed in product ion abundance and correlated to peptide primary and secondary structure. To decipher between both contributions, sequence variations of amphipathic peptides were probed by ECD and correlated to gas phase structures suggested by ion mobility mass spectrometry and supported by molecular dynamics computations. After probing amino acid side chain influence, unraveling the chemical environment specificity of ECD/ETD led us to investigate peptide backbone modifications. Peptides containing beta amino acids revealed two main effects in ECD and ETD. We demonstrate that individual substitutions yield c and z type fragments only for amino acids that provide sufficient z• radical stabilization, whereas multiple substitutions shift the preferential fragmentation pathway to the otherwise minor a-type ion formation pathway indicating possible change in peptide protonation. Finally, understanding the partitioning of radical ions between N- and C-terminal fragments led us to investigate ion internal energy dependence. The extent of hydrogen atom transfer, the [c+z] complex lifetime and secondary fragmentation pathways (w-type ion formation) are directly modulated by ion internal energy as demonstrated by decoupling ETD from charge reduced CID. To summarize, ECD/ETD product ion abundance methodology developed in the thesis advances biomolecule radical chemistry understanding and provides a potentially useful methodology for peptide and protein structural characterization.