Host Cell Protein Analysis
Measuring the Forest,
Or Counting the Trees?
Ted Kocot
IBC Life Sciences Conference
15 May 2010
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What is Host Cell Protein?
HCPs are proteins made by the host
construct that are not product related.
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Why do we care?
Patient Safety &
Product Quality
HCPs may:
Elicit an immune response
Act as adjuvants
Have enzymatic effects
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Why do we care?
Process
Support
Support development
Assess performance
Demonstrate comparability
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Why do we care?
Regulatory
Expectation
Release Testing
Process Validation
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Frequently Asked Questions
“How much HCP is in
my sample?”
“Is that low enough?”
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The Challenges
HCPs are:
Proteinaceous
Identical to our products to many method
Diverse
E. coli have ≈4000 protein encoding genes
Heterogenous
A wide range of properties
Rare
Parts per million sensitivity is required
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The Challenges
We solve these problems
by using an immuno-
assay (ELISA) for HCPs
quantitation.
This takes advantage of
the high Selectivity and
Affinity of antibodies.
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Sandwich ELISA
Anti-HCP Antibodies
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Sandwich ELISA
Anti-HCP Antibodies
Blocking
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Sandwich ELISA
Anti-HCP Antibodies
Blocking
HCP Capture
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Sandwich ELISA
Anti-HCP Antibodies
Blocking
HCP Capture
Biotinylated Anti-HCP
Antibodies
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Sandwich ELISA
Anti-HCP Antibodies
Blocking
HCP Capture
Biotinylated Anti-HCP
Antibodies
Streptavidin HRP
Conjugate
B
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Sandwich ELISA
Anti-HCP Antibodies
Blocking
HCP Capture
Biotinylated Anti-HCP
Antibodies
Streptavidin HRP
Conjugate
TMB Oxidization
B
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The Assay Standard
The assay is standardized against Host Cell Protein
material from a null cell culture.
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Antibody Production
This null cell material is also used to raise antibodies
in laboratory animals.
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Dilutional Linearity
If there are two parts per million HCP in a 5 mg/mL
solution of a product, how much in a 1 mg/mL solution?
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Dilutional Linearity
OK, a lot of discussion:
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An Explanation
There are no antibody
for these HCPs.
These are antibodies against
HCPs that have been
removed by the process.
There is insufficient
antibody for these HCPs.
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Immunoassay Issues
Only One Antibody
No Detection
Non-Immunogenic HCPs
No Detection
Interfering Epitopes
No Detection
Cross Reactivity
False Positives
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HCP ELISAs: Linearity
In a DoE exercise designed to improve
HCP assay linearity it was found:
Changes in the assay
conditions had different
effects on different sample
types.
Which is not too surprising, except...
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HCP ELISAs: Linearity
In a DoE exercise designed to improve HCP assay
linearity it was found:
Changes in the assay conditions had
different effects on different sample types.
And for one sample type:
“Lower Coating Antibody
concentration is better…”
This is completely contrary to the conventional
wisdom!
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HCP Distribution
25% of all HCPs
≈20 Species
50% of all HCPs
≈80 More Species
75% of all HCPs
≈300 More Species
100% of all HCPs
≈4000 More Species
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Antibody Production
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Antibody Production
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Antibody Production
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Antibody Production
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Antibody Production
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Antibody Binding
Intuitively we think of antibody-antigen binding as going to
completion then stopping.
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Antibody Binding
Intuitively we think of antibody-antigen binding as going to
completion then stopping.
This is a reasonable
approximation if the
antibody concentration is
high.
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Antibody Binding
Intuitively we think of antibody-antigen binding as going to
completion then stopping.
This is a reasonable
approximation if the
antibody concentration is
high.
But when the antibody
concentration falls below
the binding constant, our
mental model and reality
begin to diverge.
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The Standard Curve
The Standard Curve is the sum of the binding curves of
individual antibody-HCP pairs.
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Individual Binding
High Antibody Conc.
Low
Affinity
High
Affinity
Low Antibody Conc.
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What is in our Sample
When we consider the purification process we
usually think of HCP quantitatively.
1
10
100
1000
10000
100000
Crude Final
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HCP Clearance - Quality
But our process does not remove proteins uniformly.
As we purify our product, some HCPs will be removed
thoroughly. Others will co-purify.
Reactor
Harvest
Purified
Product
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What’s in Your Sample?
As the HCP profile changes, the sample response may
begin to diverge from the standard response.
In a bioassay it would be said that the sample is “not
equivalent”.
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Sample Quantitation
High Antibody Conc.
Low
Affinity
High
Affinity
Low Antibody Conc.
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Going Forward
So, given all this, what practices
suggest themselves?
 Test at a uniform product concentration (or
concentrations).
or
 Test at multiple concentrations (but always
the same concentrations) and report an
average.
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Going Forward
So, given all this, what practices
suggest themselves?
Run the assay as a limit test standardizing
against material from an engineering run.
NOTE: There are a lot of complications, both
technically and logistically, inherent in this
approach, so I cannot seriously recommend it. But,
if dilutional linearity was our only issue, this would
be the solution.
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Going Forward
Watch out for the things our ELISA
assay might not be telling us!
 Western Blots – reveals a few HCPs in
large abundance.
 Silver Stained Gels and Mass
Spectrometry – reveals HCPs present in
abundance but not seen by our
antibody pool.
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Finally
Watch the dose-response curve.
If the dilutional linearity
relationship suddenly
changes, something is
has changed, either in
your assay or in the
purification process.
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Acknowledgements
Mark Abrams
Sean Concannon
Aparna Deora
Ned Mozier
Asenath Rasmussen
Tom Schomogy
Xing Wang
Kristine Wells

Host Cell Protein Analysis - Measuring the Forest, or Counting theTrees