Ultrafast Separation and Analysis of Monoclonal Antibody Aggregates Using Membrane Chromatography

We discuss a method for rapid and cost-effective analysis of monoclonal antibody (mAb) aggregates. Hydrophobic interaction membrane chromatography, which was previously shown to be highly suitable for such separation and analysis, was used in a recently developed format referred to as laterally fed membrane chromatography (or LFMC). A stack of rectangular polyvinylidene fluoride (or PVDF) membranes having 0.22 mu m pores housed within a modified analytical-scale LFMC device was used for analyzing aggregate types and content in different monoclonal antibody samples. High-resolution separations could be achieved in less than 1.5 min, this being faster than other currently available techniques such as size exclusion ultraperformance liquid chromatography (SE-UPLC). Moreover, the operating pressure was less than 200 kPa, which eliminated the need for an expensive high-pressure pump and chromatography system. The resolution obtained using the LFMC was comparable to that obtained using SE-UPLC. The effect of design variations such as change in dead volume and pillar size within the lateral channels within the LFMC device was also examined.