TY - JOUR A1 - Döring, Sarah A1 - Konthur, Zoltán A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Jaeger, Carsten A1 - Reinders, Yvonne T1 - Challenges and Insights in Absolute Quantification of Recombinant Therapeutic Antibodies by Mass Spectrometry: An Introductory Review N2 - This review describes mass spectrometry (MS)-based approaches for the absolute quantification of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), focusing on technical challenges in sample treatment and calibration. Therapeutic mAbs are crucial for treating cancer and inflammatory, infectious, and autoimmune diseases. We trace their development from hybridoma technology and the first murine mAbs in 1975 to today’s chimeric and fully human mAbs. With increasing commercial relevance, the absolute quantification of mAbs, traceable to an international standard system of units (SI units), has attracted attention from science, industry, and national metrology institutes (NMIs). Quantification of proteotypic peptides after enzymatic digestion using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) has emerged as the most viable strategy, though methods targeting intact mAbs are still being explored. We review peptide-based quantification, focusing on critical experimental steps like denaturation, reduction, alkylation, choice of digestion enzyme, and selection of signature peptides. Challenges in amino acid analysis (AAA) for quantifying pure mAbs and peptide calibrators, along with software tools for targeted MS data analysis, are also discussed. Short explanations within each chapter provide newcomers with an overview of the field’s challenges. We conclude that, despite recent progress, further efforts are needed to overcome the many technical hurdles along the quantification workflow and discuss the prospects of developing standardized protocols and certified reference materials (CRMs) for this goal. We also suggest future applications of newer technologies for absolute mAb quantification. KW - Monoclonal antibody KW - Therapeutic antibodies KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Liquid chromatography KW - Absolute quantification KW - Metrology KW - Traceability KW - Certified reference material PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-623707 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/antib14010003 SN - 2073-4468 VL - 14 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 26 PB - MDPI CY - Basel, Schweiz AN - OPUS4-62370 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - INPR A1 - Döring, Sarah A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Reinders, Yvonne A1 - Konthur, Zoltán A1 - Jaeger, Carsten T1 - Challenges and Insights in Absolute Quantification of Recombinant Therapeutic Antibodies by Mass Spectrometry: An Introductory Review N2 - This review describes mass spectrometry (MS)-based approaches for the absolute quantification of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), focusing on technical challenges in sample treatment and calibration. Therapeutic mAbs are crucial for treating cancer, inflammatory, infectious, and autoimmune diseases. We trace their development from hybridoma technology and the first murine mAbs in 1975 to today’s chimeric and fully human mAbs. With increasing commercial relevance, absolute quantification of mAbs, traceable to SI units, has attracted attention from science, industry, and national metrology institutes (NMIs). Quantification of proteotypic peptides after enzymatic digestion using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has emerged as the most viable strategy, though methods targeting intact mAbs are still being explored. We review peptide-based quantification, focusing on critical experimental steps like denaturation, reduction, alkylation, choice of digestion enzyme, and selection of signature peptides. Challenges in amino acid analysis (AAA) for quantifying pure mAbs and peptide calibrators, along with software tools for targeted MS data analysis, are also discussed. Short explanations within each chapter provide newcomers an overview of the field’s challenges. Finally, we discuss prospects and limitations of developing standardized protocols and certified reference materials (CRMs) and suggest future applications of newer technologies for the absolute quantification of therapeutic antibodies. KW - Antibody KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Absolute quantification KW - Metrology KW - Reference products PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-621841 DO - https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202412.1081.v1 SP - 1 EP - 22 PB - MDPI AN - OPUS4-62184 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - INPR A1 - Döring, Sarah A1 - Wulfes, Birte S. A1 - Atanasova, Aleksandra A1 - Jaeger, Carsten A1 - Walzel, Leopold A1 - Tscheuschner, Georg A1 - Flemig, Sabine A1 - Gawlitza, Kornelia A1 - Feldmann, Ines A1 - Konthur, Zoltán A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Corundum Particles as Trypsin Carrier for Efficient Protein Digestion N2 - Reusable enzyme carriers are valuable for proteomic workflows, yet many supports are expensive or lack robustness. This study describes the covalent immobilization of recombinant trypsin on micrometer-sized corundum particles and assesses their performance in protein digestion and antibody analysis. The corundum surface was cleaned with potassium hydroxide, silanized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane and activated with glutaraldehyde. Recombinant trypsin was then attached, and the resulting imines were reduced with sodium cyanoborohydride. Aromatic amino acid analysis (AAAA) estimated an enzyme loading of approximately 1 µg/mg. Non-specific adsorption of human plasma proteins was suppressed by blocking residual aldehydes with a Tris-glycine-lysine buffer. Compared with free trypsin, immobilization shifted the temperature optimum from 50 to 60 °C and greatly improved stability in 1 M guanidinium hydrochloride. Activity remained above 80 % across several reuse cycles, and storage at 4 °C preserved functionality for weeks. When applied to digesting the NISTmAb, immobilized trypsin provided peptide yields and sequence coverage comparable to soluble enzyme and outperformed it at elevated temperatures. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of Herceptin digests yielded fingerprint spectra that correctly identified the antibody and achieved >60 % sequence coverage. The combination of low cost, robustness and analytical performance makes corundum-immobilized trypsin an attractive option for research and routine proteomic workflows. KW - Aluminum oxide KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Enzyme immobilization KW - Antibodies KW - Protein quantification PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-647944 DO - https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202510.2002.v1 SP - 1 EP - 22 PB - Preprints.org AN - OPUS4-64794 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Tscheuschner, Georg A1 - Kaiser, Melanie N. A1 - Lisec, Jan A1 - Beslic, D. A1 - Muth, Thilo A1 - Krüger, M. A1 - Mages, H. W. A1 - Dorner, B. G. A1 - Knospe, J. A1 - Schenk, J. A. A1 - Sellrie, F. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - MALDI-TOF-MS-Based Identification of Monoclonal Murine Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies within One Hour N2 - During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, many virus-binding monoclonal antibodies have been developed for clinical and diagnostic purposes. This underlines the importance of antibodies as universal bioanalytical reagents. However, little attention is given to the reproducibility crisis that scientific studies are still facing to date. In a recent study, not even half of all research antibodies mentioned in publications could be identified at all. This should spark more efforts in the search for practical solutions for the traceability of antibodies. For this purpose, we used 35 monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 to demonstrate how sequence-independent antibody identification can be achieved by simple means applied to the protein. First, we examined the intact and light chain masses of the antibodies relative to the reference material NIST-mAb 8671. Already half of the antibodies could be identified based solely on these two parameters. In addition, we developed two complementary peptide mass fingerprinting methods with MALDI-TOF-MS that can be performed in 60 min and had a combined sequence coverage of over 80%. One method is based on the partial acidic hydrolysis of the protein by 5 mM of sulfuric acid at 99 degrees C. Furthermore, we established a fast way for a tryptic digest without an alkylation step. We were able to show that the distinction of clones is possible simply by a brief visual comparison of the mass spectra. In this work, two clones originating from the same immunization gave the same fingerprints. Later, a hybridoma sequencing confirmed the sequence identity of these sister clones. In order to automate the spectral comparison for larger libraries of antibodies, we developed the online software ABID 2.0. This open-source software determines the number of matching peptides in the fingerprint spectra. We propose that publications and other documents critically relying on monoclonal antibodies with unknown amino acid sequences should include at least one antibody fingerprint. By fingerprinting an antibody in question, its identity can be confirmed by comparison with a library spectrum at any time and context. KW - Reproducibility KW - Quality control KW - Traceability KW - Peptides KW - Peptide mass fingerprinting KW - Monoclonal antibody KW - Recombinant antibody KW - Identity KW - Antibody identification KW - Sequencing KW - Light chain KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Software KW - Open science KW - Library KW - COVID-19 KW - Corona virus KW - Sequence coverage KW - NIST-mAb 8671 KW - Reference material KW - RBD KW - Spike protein KW - Nucleocapsid KW - Cleavage KW - Tryptic digest KW - MALDI KW - DHAP KW - 2,5-dihydroxyacetophenone KW - Github KW - Zenodo KW - ABID PY - 2022 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-547347 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/antib11020027 VL - 11 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 22 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-54734 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwaar, Timm A1 - Lettow, Maike A1 - Remmler, Dario A1 - Börner, H. G. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Efficient Screening of Combinatorial Peptide Libraries by Spatially Ordered Beads Immobilized on Conventional Glass Slides N2 - Screening of one-bead-one-compound (OBOC) libraries is a proven procedure for the identification of protein-binding ligands. The demand for binders with high affinity and specificity towards various targets has surged in the biomedical and pharmaceutical field in recent years. The traditional peptide screening involves tedious steps such as affinity selection, bead picking, sequencing, and characterization. Herein, we present a high-throughput “all-on-one chip” system to avoid slow and technically complex bead picking steps. On a traditional glass slide provided with an electrically conductive tape, beads of a combinatorial peptide library are aligned and immobilized by application of a precision sieve. Subsequently, the chip is incubated with a fluorophore-labeled target protein. In a fluorescence scan followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-time of flight (TOF) mass spectrometry, high-affinity binders are directly and unambiguously sequenced with high accuracy without picking of the positive beads. The use of an optimized ladder sequencing approach improved the accuracy of the de-novo sequencing step to nearly 100%. The new technique was validated by employing a FLAG-based model system, identifying new peptide binders for the monoclonal M2 anti-FLAG antibody, and was finally utilized to search for IgG-binding peptides. In the present format, more than 30,000 beads can be screened on one slide. KW - Peptide library KW - HTS KW - Target KW - MALDI KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Biochip KW - Lab-on-a-Chip KW - Array KW - Screening KW - Ladder sequencing KW - Binder KW - Pharmaceutical PY - 2019 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-478973 UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2571-5135/8/2/11 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/ht8020011 VL - 8 IS - 2 SP - 1 EP - 15 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-47897 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Abbas, Ioana M. A1 - Hoffmann, Holger A1 - Montes-Bayón, M. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Improved LC-MS/MS method for the quantification of hepcidin-25 in clinical samples N2 - Mass spectrometry-based methods play a crucial role in the quantification of the main iron metabolism regulator hepcidin by singling out the bioactive 25-residue peptide from the other naturally occurring N-truncated isoforms (hepcidin-20, -22, -24), which seem to be inactive in iron homeostasis. However, several difficulties arise in the MS analysis of hepcidin due to the sticky character of the peptide and the lack of suitable standards. Here, we propose the use of amino- and fluoro-silanized autosampler vials to reduce hepcidin interaction to laboratory glassware surfaces after testing several types of vials for the preparation of stock solutions and serum samples for isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (ID-LC-MS/MS). Furthermore, we have investigated two sample preparation strategies and two chromatographic separation conditions with the aim of developing an LC-MS/MS method for the sensitive and reliable quantification of hepcidin-25 in serum samples. A chromatographic separation based on usual acidic mobile phases was compared with a novel approach involving the separation of hepcidin-25 with solvents at high pH containing 0.1% of ammonia. Both methods were applied to clinical samples in an intra-laboratory comparison of two LC-MS/MS methods using the same hepcidin-25 calibrators with good correlation of the results. Finally, we recommend an LC-MS/MS-based quantification method with a dynamic range of 0.5–40 μg/L for the assessment of hepcidin-25 in human serum that uses TFA-based mobile phases and silanized glass vials. KW - HPLC KW - Liquid chromatography KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Silanization KW - Mobile phase KW - Adsorption KW - Peptide losses KW - Recovery KW - Validation KW - Quality control KW - QC KW - Iron disorders KW - Chronic kidney disease KW - Metrology KW - Round robin exercise KW - Basic solvent KW - Peptide analysis PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-1056-0 SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 410 IS - 16 SP - 3835 EP - 3846 PB - Springer Nature CY - Heidelberg AN - OPUS4-45053 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Celasun, S. A1 - Remmler, D. A1 - Schwaar, Timm A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Du Prez, F. A1 - Börner, H. G. T1 - Digging into the sequential space of thiolactone precision polymers: A combinatorial strategy to identify functional domains N2 - Functional sequences of precision polymers based on thiolactone/Michael chemistry are identified from a large one-bead one-compound library. Single-bead readout by MALDI-TOF MS/MS identifies sequences that host m-THPC that is a second Generation photo-sensitizer drug. The corresponding Tla/Michael-PEG conjugates make m-THPC available in solution and drug payload as well as drug release kinetics can be fine-tuned by the precision segment. KW - Combinatorial chemistry KW - Combinatorial polymer libraries KW - Sequence-defined oligomer KW - Precision polymer sequencing KW - Pseudo peptides KW - MALDI-TOF KW - ESI MS KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Sequencing KW - PEG KW - Polyethylene glycol KW - Solubilizer KW - Drug KW - Conjugates PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201810393 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 58 IS - 7 SP - 1960 EP - 1964 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-47323 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bosc-Bierne, Gaby A1 - Ewald, Shireen A1 - Kreuzer, Oliver J. A1 - Weller, Michael G. T1 - Efficient Quality Control of Peptide Pools by UHPLC and Simultaneous UV and HRMS Detection N2 - Peptide pools consist of short amino acid sequences and have proven to be versatile tools in various research areas in immunology and clinical applications. They are commercially available in many different compositions and variants. However, unlike other reagents that consist of only one or a few compounds, peptide pools are highly complex products which makes their quality control a major challenge. Quantitative peptide analysis usually requires sophisticated methods, in most cases isotope-labeled standards and reference materials. Usually, this would be prohibitively laborious and expensive. Therefore, an approach is needed to provide a practical and feasible method for quality control of peptide pools. With insufficient quality control, the use of such products could lead to incorrect experimental results, worsening the well-known reproducibility crisis in the biomedical sciences. Here we propose the use of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with two detectors, a standard UV detector at 214 nm for quantitative analysis and a high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS) for identity confirmation. To be cost-efficient and fast, quantification and identification are performed in one chromatographic run. An optimized protocol is shown, and different peak integration methods are compared and discussed. This work was performed using a peptide pool known as CEF advanced, which consists of 32 peptides derived from cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) and influenza virus, ranging from 8 to 12 amino acids in length. N2 - Peptidpools bestehen aus kurzen Aminosäuresequenzen und haben sich als vielseitige Werkzeuge in verschiedenen Forschungsbereichen der Immunologie und bei klinischen Anwendungen erwiesen. Sie sind in vielen verschiedenen Zusammensetzungen und Varianten im Handel erhältlich. Im Gegensatz zu anderen Reagenzien, die nur aus einer oder wenigen Verbindungen bestehen, sind Peptidpools jedoch hochkomplexe Produkte, was ihre Qualitätskontrolle zu einer großen Herausforderung macht. Die quantitative Peptidanalyse erfordert in der Regel ausgefeilte Methoden, in den meisten Fällen isotopenmarkierte Standards und Referenzmaterialien. Dies ist in der Regel sehr aufwändig und teuer. Daher wird ein Ansatz benötigt, der eine praktische und praktikable Methode zur Qualitätskontrolle von Peptidpools bietet. Bei unzureichender Qualitätskontrolle könnte die Verwendung solcher Produkte zu falschen Versuchsergebnissen führen, was das bekannte Problem der Reproduzierbarkeit in den biomedizinischen Wissenschaften noch verschärfen würde. Hier schlagen wir die Verwendung der Ultrahochleistungs-Flüssigkeitschromatographie (UHPLC) mit zwei Detektoren vor, einem Standard-UV-Detektor bei 214 nm für die quantitative Analyse und einem hochauflösenden Massenspektrometer (HRMS) für die Identitätsbestätigung. Um kosteneffizient und schnell zu sein, werden Quantifizierung und Identifizierung in einem einzigen chromatographischen Lauf durchgeführt. Es wird ein optimiertes Protokoll gezeigt, und es werden verschiedene Peak-Integrationsmethoden verglichen und diskutiert. Für diese Arbeit wurde ein Peptidpool verwendet, der als CEF advanced bekannt ist und aus 32 Peptiden besteht, die vom Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr-Virus (EBV) und Influenzavirus stammen und zwischen 8 und 12 Aminosäuren lang sind. KW - Synthetic peptides KW - Quality control KW - Impurites KW - Byproducts KW - Degradation KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Orbitrap PY - 2024 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-602299 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/separations11050156 SN - 2297-8739 VL - 11 IS - 5 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - MDPI CY - Basel AN - OPUS4-60229 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schwarz, Gunnar A1 - Beck, S. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Linscheid, M.W. T1 - MeCAT - new iodoacetamide reagents for metal labeling of proteins and peptides N2 - Besides protein identification via mass spectrometric methods, protein and peptide quantification has become more and more important in order to tackle biological questions. Methods like differential gel electrophoresis or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays have been used to assess protein concentrations, while stable isotope labeling methods are also well established in quantitative proteomics. Recently, we developed metalcoded affinity tagging (MeCAT) as an alternative for accurate and sensitive quantification of peptides and proteins. In addition to absolute quantification via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, MeCAT also enables sequence analysis via electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. In the current study, we developed a new labeling approach utilizing an iodoacetamide MeCAT reagent (MeCAT-IA). The MeCAT-IA approach shows distinct advantages over the previously used MeCAT with maleinimide reactivity such as higher labelling efficiency and the lack of diastereomer formation during labeling. Here, we present a careful characterization of this new method focusing on the labeling process, which yields complete tagging with an excess of reagent of 1.6 to 1, less complex chromatographic behavior, and fragmentation characteristics of the tagged peptides using the iodoacetamide MeCAT reagent. KW - Quantitative proteomics KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Metal labeling KW - Stable isotope labeling KW - Lanthanide DOTA KW - Metall-Markierung KW - Reagenzien KW - Protein-Quantifizierung KW - Lanthaniden KW - Multiplexing PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-5189-7 SN - 1618-2642 SN - 1618-2650 VL - 401 IS - 4 SP - 1203 EP - 1209 PB - Springer CY - Berlin AN - OPUS4-23949 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beslic, D. A1 - Tscheuschner, Georg A1 - Renard, B. Y. A1 - Weller, Michael G. A1 - Muth, Thilo T1 - Comprehensive evaluation of peptide de novo sequencing tools for monoclonal antibody assembly N2 - Monoclonal antibodies are biotechnologically produced proteins with various applications in research, therapeutics and diagnostics. Their ability to recognize and bind to specific molecule structures makes them essential research tools and therapeutic agents. Sequence information of antibodies is helpful for understanding antibody–antigen interactions and ensuring their affinity and specificity. De novo protein sequencing based on mass spectrometry is a valuable method to obtain the amino acid sequence of peptides and proteins without a priori knowledge. In this study, we evaluated six recently developed de novo peptide sequencing algorithms (Novor, pNovo 3, DeepNovo, SMSNet, PointNovo and Casanovo), which were not specifically designed for antibody data. We validated their ability to identify and assemble antibody sequences on three multi-enzymatic data sets. The deep learning-based tools Casanovo and PointNovo showed an increased peptide recall across different enzymes and data sets compared with spectrum-graph-based approaches. We evaluated different error types of de novo peptide sequencing tools and their performance for different numbers of missing cleavage sites, noisy spectra and peptides of various lengths. We achieved a sequence coverage of 97.69–99.53% on the light chains of three different antibody data sets using the de Bruijn assembler ALPS and the predictions from Casanovo. However, low sequence coverage and accuracy on the heavy chains demonstrate that complete de novo protein sequencing remains a challenging issue in proteomics that requires improved de novo error correction, alternative digestion strategies and hybrid approaches such as homology search to achieve high accuracy on long protein sequences. KW - De novo peptide sequencing KW - Bioinformatics KW - Benchmarking study KW - Monoclonal antibody KW - Mass spectrometry KW - Sequence coverage KW - Light chains KW - Heavy chains KW - IgG KW - Immunoglobulins KW - Error correction KW - Sequencing algorithm KW - Preprocessing KW - Missing fragmentation sites KW - Deep learning-based tools PY - 2023 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-570363 DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/bib/bbac542 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 12 PB - Oxford University Press AN - OPUS4-57036 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -