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 -