Applications of imaged capillary isoelectric focussing technique in development of biopharmaceutical glycoprotein-based products

CE-based methods have increasingly been applied to the analysis of a variety of different type proteins. One of those techniques is imaged capillary isoelectric focusing (icIEF), a method that has been used extensively in the field of protein-based drug development as a tool for product identification, stability monitoring, and characterization. It offers many advantages over the traditional labor-intensive IEF slab gel method and even standard cIEF with on-line detection technologies with regard to method development, reproducibility, robustness, and speed. Here, specific examples are provided for biopharmaceutical glycoprotein products such as mAbs, erythropoietin (EPO), and recombinant Fc-fusion proteins, though the technique can be adapted for many other therapeutic proteins. Applications of iCIEF using a Convergent Bioscience instrument (Toronto, Canada) with whole-field imaging technology are presented and discussed. These include a quick method to establish an identity test for many protein-based products, product release, and stability evaluation of glycoproteins with respect to charge heterogeneity under accelerated temperature stress, different pH conditions, and in different formulations. Finally, characterization of glycoproteins using this iCIEF technology is discussed with respect to biosimilar development, clone selection, and antigen binding. The data presented provide a ``taste'' of what icIEF method can do to support the development of biopharmaceutical glycoprotein products from early clone screening for better product candidates to characterization of the final commercial products.