Evaluation of immunoconjugates of non-radioactive lutetium- and yttrium-rituximab – a vibrational spectroscopy study

Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy were used to study the molecular structure of the recombinant monoclonal antibody and anti-CD20-conjugates which are intended to be used as anti-cancer therapeutic agents. We characterized the secondary structure of a therapeutic immunoconjugates, formulated with different bifunctional chelating agents and labeled with non-radioactive lutetium and yttrium. The secondary structure content of all three immunoconjugates was assessed to be similar to that of unlabeled antibody. In addition, no significant changes upon lyophilizing procedures were observed. The results demonstrate that amide bands could be taken as analytical peak which enables quick and reliable way for screening of protein pharmaceuticals during development of lyophilized formulations.