Multi‐Attribute Method (MAM) Analytical Workflow for Biotherapeutic Protein Characterization from Process Development to QC

Abstract

AbstractThe multi‐attribute method (MAM) has emerged significantly in recent years to support biotherapeutic protein characterization from process development to the QC environment. MAM is a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC‐MS) based peptide mapping approach, which combines the benefits from liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution accurate mass mass spectrometry (LC‐HRAM MS), enabling direct assessment of protein sequence and product quality attributes with site specificity. These product quality attributes may impact efficacy, safety, stability, and process robustness. MAM is intended to replace conventional analytical approaches as it offers a more streamlined strategy for parallel monitoring of multiple attributes in a single analysis with high sensitivity and confidence, and ultimately supports more robust Quality by Design (QbD) approaches and faster decision cycles for biotherapeutic development. MAM consists of three main stages. The first stage is sample digestion, which typically entails proteolytic digestion of the protein. The second stage is reversed‐phase chromatographic separation of the generated peptides and detection by HRAM MS in two phases. During MAM Phase I (discovery phase), data‐dependent acquisition (DDA) MS/MS is performed to enable confident identification of peaks and development of a peptide workbook. During MAM Phase II (monitoring phase), full MS acquisition is only carried out for the monitoring of predefined product quality attributes (PQAs). The third stage is data processing, which entails analysis and reporting for each of the two phases including evaluation of sequence coverage, assessment of PQAs and peptide workbook creation during phase I, and targeted monitoring of predefined product attributes and new peak detection (NPD) during phase II. The latter is a comparative analysis that uses a base peak alignment algorithm to determine any non‐monitored differences between the LC‐MS chromatograms of a test sample and a reference standard. © 2023 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.Basic Protocol 1: In‐solution sample digestionAlternate Protocol: Automated sample digestionBasic Protocol 2: Reversed‐phase chromatographic separation and detection by HRAM‐MS (RPLC‐HRAM MS)Basic Protocol 3: Data processing and reporting