Project Goal

Characterize antibodies and antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) in terms of amino acid sequence, drug-to-antibody ratio (DAR) and post-translational modifications.

The Challenges

• Establishing a native mass spectrometry method that maintains the quaternary structure of interchain cysteine conjugated ADCs.
• Establishing a label-free method for the quantification of serum incubated ADCs.

The solution

• Top-down approach for quick confirmation of proteins, identification of common post-translational modifications and determination of the DAR.
• Bottom-up mass spectrometry for in-depth analysis of the amino acid sequence and site localization of modifications.
• BioPharmaView™ Software automatically calculates the DAR and creates a report, which can be sent to customers without further manual changes.

The outcome

• Generic method for routine analysis of the DAR, regardless of antibody, linker and payload.
• Quick confirmation of the protein identity of small-scale expressions.