†Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics, Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research and Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
‡Netherlands Proteomics Center, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Anal Chem. 2015 Jun 16;87(12):6095-102. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.5b00788. Epub 2015 May 27.
Native mass spectrometry is emerging as a powerful tool for the characterization of intact antibodies and antibody-based therapeutics. Here, we demonstrate new possibilities provided by the implementation of a high mass quadrupole mass selector on the recently introduced Orbitrap Exactive EMR mass spectrometer. This configuration allows precursor ion selection, and thus tandem mass spectrometry experiments, even on analytes with masses in the hundreds of kilodaltons. We apply tandem mass spectrometry to localize the drug molecules in the therapeutic antibody-drug conjugate brentuximab vedotin, which displays a heterogeneous drug load. Our tandem MS data reveal that drug conjugation takes place nonhomogeneously to cysteine residues both on the light and heavy chains. Next, we analyzed how many antigens bind to IgG hexamers, based on a recently described antibody mutant IgG1-RGY that forms hexamers and activates complement in solution. The fully saturated IgG1-RGY-antigen complexes displayed a stoichiometry of IgG:CD38 of 6:12, possessing a molecular weight of about 1.26 MDa and demonstrating that IgG assembly does not hamper antigen binding. Through tandem MS experiments, we retrieve information about the spatial arrangement and stoichiometry of the subunits within this complex. These examples underscore the potential of this further modified Orbitrap-EMR instrument especially for the in-depth characterization by native tandem mass spectrometry of antibodies and antibody-based constructs.
天然质谱法正成为一种强大的工具,用于鉴定完整的抗体和基于抗体的治疗药物。在这里,我们展示了在最近推出的 Orbitrap Exactive EMR 质谱仪上实施高质量四极杆质量选择器所提供的新可能性。这种配置允许进行前体离子选择,从而进行串联质谱实验,即使是在质量达数百千道尔顿的分析物上也是如此。我们将串联质谱法应用于治疗性抗体药物偶联物 Brentuximab Vedotin 中药物分子的定位,该药物显示出药物负载不均一。我们的串联 MS 数据显示,药物结合发生在轻链和重链上的半胱氨酸上是非均匀的。接下来,我们基于最近描述的 IgG1-RGY 抗体突变体,该突变体在溶液中形成六聚体并激活补体,分析了多少个抗原与 IgG 六聚体结合。完全饱和的 IgG1-RGY-抗原复合物显示 IgG:CD38 的比例为 6:12,分子量约为 1.26 MDa,并证明 IgG 组装不会妨碍抗原结合。通过串联 MS 实验,我们获取了有关该复合物中亚基空间排列和化学计量的信息。这些例子强调了这种进一步改进的 Orbitrap-EMR 仪器的潜力,特别是用于通过天然串联质谱法对抗体和基于抗体的构建体进行深入表征。