Publication & Application notes

In-depth characterisation of antibody charge variants by icIEF fractionation coupled to intact mass spectrometry and peptide mapping

Imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) is the gold standard technique for the determination and relative quantification of biotherapeutics charge variants, considered as a critical quality attributes (CQA).

Authors
Thomas Menneteau
Claire Butré
Géry Van Vyncht
Arnaud Delobel
Laurence Talbot, Bio-Techne
Marion Galaup, Acticor Biotech
Kristell Lebozec, Acticor Biotech
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Addressing common challenges of biotherapeutic protein peptide mapping using recombinant trypsin

Peptide mapping is the key method for characterization of primary structure of biotherapeutic proteins. This method relies on digestion of proteins into peptides that are then analyzed for amino acid sequence and posttranslational modifications.

Authors
Thomas Menneteau
Claire Butré
Arnaud Delobel
Sergei Saveliev, Promega Corporation
Alba Katiria Gonzalez Rivera, Promega Corporation
Marjeta Urh, Promega Corporation
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Wide Pore Polymeric Reversed-Phase PLRP-S Columns for mRNA Analysis

Since the discovery of effective methods of delivery, messenger RNAs (mRNAs) have become increasingly popular in healthcare. These large, complex molecules are designed to allow cells to produce critical proteins and enzymes that can help fight disease.

Authors
Jennifer Bouchenna
Claire Butré
Damien Mouvet
Arnaud Delobel
Andrew Coffey (Agilent Technologies, Inc.)
Andrea Angelo P. Tripodi (Agilent Technologies, Inc.)
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Multi-Attribute Monitoring of Therapeutic mRNA by Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry

Therapeutic mRNA is receiving growing interest in various therapeutic applications such as genome editing, cancer immunotherapy and prophylactic vaccines.

Authors
Thomas Menneteau
Claire I. Butré
Damien Mouvet
Arnaud Delobel
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Alternative analytical solutions for endotoxin and pyrogen testing

At the cutting edge of analytical sciences, Quality Assistance is constantly investing in the latest technologies and equipment to provide the pharmaceutical industry with up-to-date services required by regulatory au

Authors
Sara Hully
Paula Paci
Fabian Vandermeers
Géry Van Vyncht
Arnaud Delobel
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Assessment of Squalene-Adenosine Nanoparticles in Two Rodent Models of Cardiac Ischemia-Reperfusion

(1) Université Paris-Saclay, Institut Galien Paris-Saclay, CNRS UMR 8612, Pole Biologie-Pharmacie-Chimie, Bâtiment Henri Moissan, 6 Rue d’Arsonval, 91400 Orsay, France; rb.romain.brusini@gmail.com (R.B.)
Authors
Romain Brusini (1)
Natalie Lan Linh Tran (1,2)
Catherine Cailleau (1)
Valérie Domergue (3)
Valérie Nicolas (4)
Flavio Dormont (1)
Serge Calet (5)
Caroline Cajot (6)
Albin Jouran (6)
Sinda Lepetre-Mouelhi (1)
Julie Laloy (2)
Patrick Couvreur (1, *)
Mariana Varna (1, *)
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Absolute quantification of proteins by ICP-MS/MS

Since 2015, Quality Assistance proposes to its partners a method based on Sulphur specific ICP-MS/MS detection combined with an 34S/32S isotope dilution quantification.

Authors
Juliusz Bianga
Loïc Bousser
Pascal Brichart
Magali Perez
Géry Van Vyncht
Arnaud Delobel
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Characterisation of particle size distribution in Adeno-Associated Viral Vectors (AAVs) by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS)

Adeno-associated viral vectors (AAVs) are small (~20-25 nm), non-enveloped viruses involved in the development of gene therapy protocols for the treatment of various diseases.

Authors
Nolan Delmay
Claire Butré
Damien Mouvet
Arnaud Delobel
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Analysis of Oligonucleotides by Size-Exclusion Chromatography: SEC-UV, SEC-MS, SEC-MALS

The field of therapeutic oligonucleotides has seen remarkable progress over the last years.

Authors
Jennifer Bouchenna
Claire Butré
Arnaud Delobel
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Implementation and development of OCTET Red96e BLI platform

Biologics (monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates, etc.) are a class of complex molecules used in a wide range of therapeutic indications, including cancers and auto-immune diseases.

Authors
Thomas Henri
Florian Visée
Fabian Vandermeers
Arnaud Delobel
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Interlaboratory Evaluation of a User-Friendly Benchtop Mass Spectrometer for Multiple-Attribute Monitoring Studies of a Monoclonal Antibody

(1) Quality Assistance sa, Technoparc de Thudinie 2, 6536 Thuin, Belgium
(2) School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Geneva, CMU—Rue Michel Servet 1, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Authors
Claire I. Butré (1,†)
Valentina D’Atri (2,3,†)
Hélène Diemer (4,5,†)
Olivier Colas (6)
Elsa Wagner (6)
Alain Beck (6,*)
Sarah Cianferani (4,5)
Davy Guillaume (2,3)
Arnaud Delobel (1,*)
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New 2D-LC–MS Approaches for the Analysis of In-Process Samples and for the Characterisation of mAbs in a Regulated Environment

Biologics, and in particular monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), are an important class of therapeutics, and their market share keeps growing. The production of antibodies is a complex and lengthy process.

Authors
Claire I. Butré
Arnaud Delobel
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Validation of a Monocyte Activation Test (MAT) using the PyroMAT™ kit

Pyrogen testing is a regulatory requirement to ensure the product quality and safety of pharmaceutical products, as pyrogens can induce life threatening fever reactions.

Authors
Sara Hully
Fabian Vandermeers
Vincent Bertholet
Géry Van Vyncht
Arnaud Delobel
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Capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF) bridging study between iCE3 and Maurice equipment

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) constitute a major and fast-growing biotherapeutic class, thanks notably to their outstanding selectivity for specific targets.

Authors
Vanessa Tavernier
Claire Butré
Arnaud Delobel
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A new alternative tool to analyse glycosylation in pharmaceutical proteins based on infrared spectroscopy combined with nonlinear support vector regression

(a) University of Liege (ULiege), CIRM, Vibra-Sante Hub, Department of Pharmacy, Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry, Liege, Belgium
Authors
Sabrina Hamla (a)
Pierre-Yves Sacré (a)
Allison Derenne (b)
Kheiro-Mouna Derfoufi (b)
Ben Cowper (c)
Claire I. Butré (d)
Arnaud Delobel (d)
Erik Goormaghtigh (a)
Philippe Hubert (a)
Eric Ziemons (a)
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Quantification of residual CHO host cell DNA in biotherapeutics in-process samples using KingFisher Flex system

The presence of residual host cell DNA in biopharmaceutical products can induce severe side effects for patients.

Authors
Fabian vandermeers
Estelle Lara
Arnaud Delobel
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Development and validation of an antibody-drug conjugate bioassay

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are a class of drugs used in the treatment of different cancers. Unlike chemotherapy, ADCs are designed to only target and kill tumour cells. Structurally, ADCs are complex molecules composed of an antibody linked to a cytotoxic co

Authors
Thomas Henri
Fabian Vandermeers
Vincent Bertholet
Arnaud Delobel
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DryLab and Empower: a successful combination for the optimisation of mAb subunit analysis

The development of liquid chromatography (LC) methods has long been done using a trial-and-error approach, also known as “one factor at a time” (OFAT). While this approach is the easiest to implement, it is both time-consuming and quite inefficient.

Authors
Morgane Lescut
Claire Butré
Arnaud Delobel
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Fast and accurate absolute quantification of antibodies and antibody-drug conjugate using Isotope Dilution-Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS

Traditional “absolute” methods of analysis for protein quantification include colorimetry, amino acid (AA) analysis and UV-Vis spectroscopy but each of these techniques has its limitations.

Authors
Juliusz Bianga
Philippe De Raeve
Magali Perez
Arnaud Delobel
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Development and validation of home-made Luminex assays for the quantification of multiple cytokines in human samples

Cytokine profiling is a powerful tool to link the host immune system with disease pathogenesis and/or treatment efficacy.

Authors
Sandra Thys
Fabian Vandermeers
Arnaud Delobel
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Development of orthogonal chromatographic methods for the purity analysis of therapeutic oligonucleotides

This application note presents the results obtained for the development of different HPLC methods on model therapeutic oligonucleotides, including R&D-grade Nusinersen, an approved 18-mer phosphorothioate oligonucleotide with 2’-O-(2-methoxyethyl) modifications.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Claire Butré
Morgane Lescut
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Absolute Quantification of Oligonucleotides by ICP-MS/MS

A method was developed for the absolute quantification of purified therapeutic oligonucleotides, based on phosphorus determination by ICP-MS/MS.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Juliusz Bianga
Magali Perez
Damien Mouvet
Caroline Cajot
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New 2D-LC/MS approaches for the analysis of in-process samples and for the characterisation of mAbs in a regulated environment

Two applications are presented here and describe the use of a 2D-LC system for MS characterisation of mAbs without sample preparation.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Claire I. Butré
Camille Alain
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Charge variants analysis of monoclonal antibodies

Charge variants are considered as a Critical Quality Attribute of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, as they can have a significant impact on the efficacy of the drug. State-of-the-art analytical techniques are required to both quantify and identify the variants. In this application note, we present the portfolio proposed by Quality Assistance, including capillary isoelectric focusing (cIEF) and ion-exchange chromatography (IEX), with applications to commercial monoclonal antibodies. Approaches based on (2D-)LC/MS are presented for the identification of the variants.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Claire I. Butré
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Development, optimisation and validation of a TNFα neutralising assay using a Quality by Design approach

Using a QbD approach, we developed a TNFα neutralising assay capable of fulfilling the Analytical Target Profile. Statistical Design of Experiment was applied to evaluate the effect of the different factors and to choose the optimal parameters.
Authors
Fabian Vandermeers
Capucine Lepers
Florence Dusserre-Bresson
Christelle Plennevaux
Stéphanie Pennincx
Julie Nicaise
Estelle Lara
Vincent Bertholet
Arnaud Delobel
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Innovative ICP-MS/MS approach for the determination of phosphodiester to phosphorothioate ratio in phosphorothioate oligonucleotides

Phosphodiester to phosphorothioate ratio (P=O/P=S) is a critical quality attribute of phosphorothioate oligonucleotides. The determination of this ratio is commonly performed by P-NMR, which requires specific equipment and cannot be easily applied in a regulated (GxP) environment. For the first time, we present in this application note the preliminary results obtained for the development of an ICP-MS/MS method to determine P=O/P=S ratio.
Authors
Juliusz Bianga
Caroline Cajot
Philippe De Raeve
Arnaud Delobel
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Stress testing of Humira (adalimumab) monitored by Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (HDX-MS)

In this application note, we present how this technology can be used to monitor structural changes at the amino acid level during stress testing studies of a monoclonal antibody. This appreach can be applied similarly to stability studies. 
Authors
Eric Largy
Arnaud Delobel
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Epitope mapping of an interleukin receptor for three therapeutic antibodies by Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (HDX-MS)

In this application note, we present a case study in which we performed epitope mapping for three monoclonal antibodies binding to an interleukin receptor. 
Authors
Eric Largy
Caroline Cajot
Arnaud Delobel
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Analytical Characterisation of Cell-Based Medicinal Products

Ensuring the characterisation of in vitro differentiated cells for therapeutic purposes brings many challenges. These include the difficulty of controlling cell variability and complexity of the steps required to generate a stable product.
Authors
Fabian Vandermeers
Sandra Thys
Valérie Deffontaine
Estelle Lara
Arnaud Delobel
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Analytical approaches for the evaluation of ADCC activity of mAbs

Antibody-Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity (ADCC) is amechanism of action of antibodies through which virus-infected or cancer cells are targeted for destruction by components of the cell-mediated immune system, such as natural killer cells.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Florence Dusserre-Bresson
Eric Largy
Capucine Lepers
Cléa Mantini
Christelle Plennevaux
Fabian Vandermeers
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Customised labelling of antibodies: A powerful tool for multi-parameters analyses in Flow Cytometry

The characterisation of biomarkers by flow cytometry is an attractive approach for Quality Control applications of cell products. Unfortunately, the design of a customised panel remains challenging, especially for stem cell products.
Authors
Valérie Deffontaine
Fabian Vandermeers
Capucine Lepers
Géry Van Vyncht
Arnaud Delobel
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Characterisation of the glycosylation of Humira (adalimumab) and Erbitux (Cetuximab) by high resolution mass spectrometry

Due to their mode of production, therapeutic mAbs present diverse and heterogeneous glycosylations. Their analysis may require the use of orthogonal techniques in order to fully characterize their nature and location. In this application note, the use of mass spectrometry as a powerful tool for Adalimumab and Cetuximab glycosylation characterization is presented.
Authors
Eric Largy
Fabrice Cantais
Géry Van Vyncht
Arnaud Delobel
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Characterisation of Anti-HCP antibodies by 2D differential Gel Electrophoresis

Host-cell proteins are a major class of process-related impurities in biotherapeutics that can impact the safety and efficacy of  the product. Despite the advent of advanced analytical techniques, ELISA remains as the industry gold standard for the detection and quantification of HCPs during process development and for routine analyses.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Alix Verret
Nicolas Trinchero
Géry Van Vyncht
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Characterisation of Antibody-Drug Conjugates by High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry

Due to their mode of production and conjugation chemistry, antibody-drug conjugates are complex and heterogeneous molecules. Their analysis usually requires the use of many orthogonal analytical techniques in order to fully characterise their different variants and drug-to-antibody ratio.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Eric Largy
Fabrice Cantais
Anicet Catrain,
Géry Van Vyncht
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Characterisation of the glycosylation of Enbrel: Etanercept by high resolution mass spectrometry

Due to their mode of production, therapeutic glycoproteins present complex and heterogeneous glycosylations. Their analysis usually requires the use of many orthogonal analytical techniques in order to fully characterise their nature and location.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Eric Largy
Fabrice Cantais
Géry Van Vyncht
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Human platelet lysate as additive for Wharton's Jelly-MSC culture

This application note presents the results obtained during a study performed to evaluate the use of human Platelet Lysates (hPL) as an alternative to Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) in culture media for Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSC)
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Fabian Vandermeers
Sandra Thys
Géry Van Vyncht
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Surface Plasmon Resonance

Biotherapeutics are a class of complex molecules that require the use of innovative techniques for their characterisation. Biacore technology offers label-free assays that provide precise and reliable concentration and kinetic measurements.
Authors
Arnaud Delobel
Fabian Vandermeers
Valérie Deffontaine
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Characterisation of Humira Adalimumab by high resolution mass spectrometry

Due to their mode of production, monoclonal antibodies are complex and heterogeneous molecules. Their analysis usually requires the use of many orthogonal analytical techniques in order to fully characterise the different variants.
Authors
Fabrice Cantais
Anicet Catrain
Eric Largy
Géry Van Vyncht
Arnaud Delobel
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Fast and accurate absolute-quantification of proteins and antibodies using Isotope Dilution-Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS

Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used increasingly in metallomic studies to analyze metals and metal species and their interactions within biological and ecological systems.
Authors
Agilent Technologies
Philippe De Raeve
Juliusz Bianga
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