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Human serum albumin is widely used in clinical practice, and the development of new ligands with high affinity is beneficial to improve its separation efficiency. The Site II of human serum albumin is an active binding site of various molecules such as l-tryptophan, which was studied with molecular simulation to obtain insights for the design of new ligands. The results showed that the carboxyl and indolyl groups of l-tryptophan were critical for the binding on Site II. Seven ligands containing carboxyl groups and indolyl groups were designed, and molecular simulation showed that indole-3-pentanoic acid was the best ligand. A new ligand combined indole-3-acetic acid and cysteine was designed for easier resin preparation, and molecular simulation also indicated that the new ligand bound strongly to Site II. Resins with the new ligand designed was prepared and static adsorption experiments indicated that the new resin had high adsorption capacity of human serum albumin and strong salt tolerance. Finally, recombinant human serum albumin was separated from yeast broth with high purity of 90.4% and recovery of 94.2%, which indicated that the new resin had good adsorption selectivity and strong potential for applications.

This study presents the chromatographic purification of immunoglobulin G (IgG) from human plasma using a two-column process integrating the peptide-based adsorbents LigaGuardTM, which captures non-Ig plasma proteins in flow-through mode, and LigaTrapTM, which isolates IgG in bind-and-elute. Buffer composition and column loading were optimized for both adsorbents. Two process configurations were evaluated. In the first design, plasma was fed to a LigaGuardTM column to capture plasma proteins, the effluent was loaded on the LigaTrapTM column, and the bound IgG was eluted with 63.8% global recovery and 99.7% purity; in comparison, Protein G agarose afforded ~67% recovery and 97.2% purity. In the alternative design, the LigaGuardTM column was utilized to polish the LigaTrapTM elution stream, affording 82.3% global recovery and 98.8% purity. Collectively, these results demonstrate the potential of a fully chromatographic process for purifying polyclonal IgG from plasma feedstocks.

Due to the shortage of blood donation and safe issues of blood-derived pathogens, recombinant human serum albumin (rHSA) expressed by Pichia pastoris is a potential substitute for plasma-derived HSA (pHSA). In this work, four commercialized mixed-mode resins (Capto adhere, Capto MMC, MX-Trp-650M, and Nuvia cPrime) and two ion-exchange resins (Q Sepharose FF and SP Sepharose FF) were used for rHSA separation from Pichia pastoris cell culture broth, and loading and elution conditions were optimized via a high-throughput process using microtiter filter plates. The results indicated that resins with cation-exchange groups had better adsorption performance. The loading conditions at pH 4.0 and dilution rate of 1.0 were suitable for SP Sepharose FF, and no dilution worked for mixed-mode resins. The optimal elution pH was determined to be pH 7.0 for SP Sepharose FF, pH 8.0 for MX-Trp-650M and Nuvia cPrime, and pH 9.0 for Capto MMC. Moreover, rHSA separation from Pichia pastoris broth was performed on column unde...

High-throughput approaches become increasingly important on process development for protein separation. In this work, four mixed-mode resins (Capto adhere, Capto MMC, MX-Trp–650 M and Nuvia cPrime) were investigated for human serum albumin (HSA) separation and compared with two ion-exchangers (Q Sepharose FF and SP Sepharose FF). High-throughput method based on microtiter filter plate was used to determine adsorption properties and optimize separation conditions. For resins with anion-exchange groups alkaline condition would be favorable for HSA adsorption, while acidic condition for resins with cation-exchange groups. Mixed-mode resins showed obviously salt-tolerant properties. Salt addition had little effect on Nuvia cPrime, and could promote HSA adsorption for Capto MMC and MX-Trp–650 M. The elution conditions were also optimized and high recovery could be obtained. In addition, the optimized conditions obtained by high-throughput approaches were verified by lab-scale column chromatography. It was found that Capto MMC and MX-Trp–650 M would be more suitable for HSA separation and DBC10% could reach more than 40 mg/ml under 200 mM NaCl addition. Finally, rHSA separation from P. pastoris culture broth was tested with MX-Trp–650 M, and high purity and recovery could be obtained. This study demonstrated that high-throughput screening method is a powerful tool to optimize the chromatographic separation. Mixed-mode cation-exchange resins showed an efficient practicability for HSA separation with high capacity, suitable salt-tolerance and high elution recovery.

This work presents the removal of host cell proteins (HCPs) from a Chinese Hamster Ovary clarified cell culture fluid (CHO CCCF) containing a therapeutic monoclonal antibody (mAb) by weak partitioning chromatography (WPC). The chromatographic adsorbents were produced by functionalizing Toyopearl resin with HCP-binding tetrameric multipolar (4MP) or hexameric hydrophobic/cationic (6HP) peptides. The CCCF was loaded on columns packed with either 4MP-Toyopearl or 6HP-Toyopearl resin only, or a 4MP and 6HP resin mixture at different values of residence time (RT: 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 min). The temporal profiles of concentration of HCPs and mAb in the effluents confirmed the binding mechanism by WPC, where both HCPs and mAb are initially bound by the peptide ligands, but, as more CCCF is fed to the column, the incoming HCPs displace the bound mAbs. In particular, 4MP was shown to capture more selectively high molecular weight HCPs, while 6HP was more effective in binding low molecular weight HCPs. Under optimal loading conditions (~60–80 g of proteins per L of adsorbent; RT of 5 min), the 6HP+4MP-Toyopearl adsorbent provided mAb yield and purity of >80% and up to 90%, respectively. Conversely, the control resin Toyopearl SuperQ-650 M resulted in 70% yield and 75% purity under the same conditions. Proteomic analysis of the effluents demonstrated that 6HP+4MP-Toyopearl adsorbent removes HCPs known for their immunogenicity or IgG co-elution or degradation, demonstrating the potential of these peptide-based resins as HCP scrubbers in mAb purification processes.

Peptide ligands have been developed as powerful alternatives to Protein A for antibody purification. In this study, a tetrapeptide library with two aromatic residues, one arginine and one aromatic/aliphatic residue (Aro-Aro-R-Aro/Ali) was constructed considering molecular interactions and applications. The library had 128 peptide ligands and was screened by flexible docking and molecular dynamics simulation. The results indicated that Ac-YFRH was the best ligand, and then was coupled onto an aminated argarose matrix. The results of isotherm adsorption showed that the binding capacity of human immunoglobulin G (IgG) was high at pH 7⿿8 and low at pH 4⿿5. The IgG adsorption also showed obvious salt-independence, and the addition of salt could reduce unspecific adsorption caused by electrostatic interaction. After the optimization of pH and salt addition, high IgG purity of 98.4% could be obtained with the recovery of 89.4% from BSA-containing feedstock. The purification of monoclonal antibody from CHO cell culture supernatant was tested, and the purity and recovery reached 98.0% and 79.5%, respectively. The results demonstrated that the new resin with the tetrapeptide YFRH ligand had high affinity and flexible operation window for IgG purification.

Hydrophobic charge-induction chromatography (HCIC) has advantages of high capacity, salt-tolerance and convenient pH-controlled elution. However, the binding specificity might be improved with multimodal molecular interactions. New ligand W-ABI that combining tryptophan and 5-amino-benzimidazole was designed with the concept of mutimodal charge-induction chromatography (MCIC). The indole and benzimidazole groups of the ligand could provide orientated mutimodal binding to target IgG under neutral pH, while the imidazole groups could induce the electrostatic repulsion forces for efficient elution under acidic pH. W-ABI ligand was coupled successfully onto agarose gel, and IgG adsorption behaviors were investigated. High affinity to IgG was found with the saturated adsorption capacity of 70.4 mg/ml at pH 7, and the flow rate of mobile phase showed little impact on the dynamic binding capacity. In addition, efficient elution could be achieved at mild acidic pH with high recovery. Two separation cases (IgG separation from albumin containing feedstock and monoclonal antibody purification from cell culture supernatant) were verified with high purity and recovery. In general, MCIC with the specially-designed ligand is an expanding of HCIC with improved adsorption selectivity, which would be a potential alternative to Protein A-based capture for the cost-effective purification of antibodies.

The quest for ligands alternative to Protein A for the purification of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) has been pursued for almost three decades. Yet, the IgG-binding peptides known to date still fall short of the host cell protein (HCP) logarithmic removal value (LRV) set by Protein A media (2.5-3.1). In this study, we present an integrated computational-experimental approach leading to the discovery of peptide ligands that provide HCP LRVs on par with Protein A. First, the screening of 60,000 peptide variants was performed using a high-throughput search algorithm to identify sequences that ensure IgG affinity binding. Select sequences WQRHGI, MWRGWQ, RHLGWF, and GWLHQR were then negatively screened in silico against a panel of model HCPs to ensure the selection of peptides with high binding selectivity. Candidate ligands WQRHGI and MWRGWQ were conjugated to chromatographic resins and characterized by isothermal binding and breakthrough assays to quantify static and dynamic binding capacity (Qmax and DBC10%), respectively. The resulting Qmax were 52.6 mg of IgG per mL of adsorbent for WQRHGI and 57.48 mg/mL for MWRGWQ, while the DBC10% (2 minutes residence time) were 30.1 mg/mL for WQRHGI and 36.4 mg/mL for MWRGWQ. Evaluation of the peptides by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) confirmed the binding energy predicted in silico, and an amino acid scanning study corroborated the affinity-like binding activity of the peptides. WQRHGI-WorkBeads resin was finally characterized by purification of a monoclonal antibody from a Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture harvest, affording a remarkable HCP LRV of 2.7, and consistent product yield and purity over 100 chromatographic cycles. These results demonstrate the potential of WQRHGI as an effective alternative to Protein A for antibody purification.