The reactive thiol in cysteine is used for coupling maleimide linkers in the generation of antibody conjugates. To assess the impact of the conjugation site, we engineered cysteines into a therapeutic HER2/neu antibody at three sites differing in solvent accessibility and local charge. The highly solvent-accessible site rapidly lost conjugated thiol-reactive linkers in plasma owing to maleimide exchange with reactive thiols in albumin, free cysteine or glutathione. In contrast, a partially accessible site with a positively charged environment promoted hydrolysis of the succinimide ring in the linker, thereby preventing this exchange reaction. The site with partial solvent-accessibility and neutral charge displayed both properties. In a mouse mammary tumor model, the stability and therapeutic activity of the antibody conjugate were affected positively by succinimide ring hydrolysis and negatively by maleimide exchange with thiol-reactive constituents in plasma. Thus, the chemical and structural dynamics of the conjugation site can influence antibody conjugate performance by modulating the stability of the antibody-linker interface.

Antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are monoclonal antibodies with covalently bound cytotoxic drugs. They are designed to target tumor antigens selectively and offer the hope of cancer treatment without the debilitating side-effects of conventional therapies. The concept of ADCs is not new; however, development of these therapeutics is challenging and only recently are promising clinical data emerging. These challenges include ADC bioanalysis, such as quantifying in serum/plasma for PK studies and strategies for assessing immunogenicity. ADCs have complex molecular structures incorporating large- and small-molecule characteristics and require diverse analytical methods, including ligand-binding assays and MS-based methods. ADCs are typically mixtures with a range of drug-to-antibody ratios. Biotransformations in vivo can lead to additional changes in drug-to-antibody ratios resulting in dynamically changing mixtures. Thus, a standard calibration curve consisting of the reference standard may not be appropriate for quantification of analytes in vivo and represents a unique challenge. This paper will share our perspective on why ADC bioanalysis is so complex and describe the strategies and rationale that we have used for ADCs, with highlights of original data from a variety of nonclinical and clinical case studies. Our strategy has involved novel protein structural characterization tools to help understand ADC biotransformations in vivo and use of the analyte knowledge gained to guide the development of quantitative bioanalytical assays.

Two major products (adducts A and B) from the reaction of 2-deoxyguanosine (dGuo) with 13-hydroperoxylinoleic acid were detected by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). Adducts A and B were also the major products formed enzymatically when dGuo was incubated in the presence of linoleic acid and lipoxygenase. The mass spectral fragmentation patterns of adducts A and B suggested that unique modifications to the nucleoside had been introduced. This resulted in the characterization of a novel bifunctional electrophile, 4-oxo-2-nonenal, as the principal breakdown product of linoleic acid hydroperoxide. In subsequent studies, adduct A was found to be a substituted ethano dGuo adduct that was a mixture of three isomers (A(1)-A(3)) that all decomposed to form adduct B. Adduct A(1) was the hemiacetal form of 3-(2-deoxy-beta-D-erythropentafuranosyl)-3,5,6, 7-tetrahydro-6-hydroxy-7-(heptane-2-one)-9H-imidazo[1, 2-alpha]purine-9-one. Adducts A(2) and A(3) were the diastereomers of the open chain ketone form. Adduct B was the substituted etheno dGuo adduct, 3-(2-deoxy-beta-D-erythropentafuranosyl)imidazo-7-(heptane-2 -one)-9-hydroxy[1,2-alpha]purine, the dehydration product of adducts A(1)-A(3). Identical covalent modifications to dGuo were observed when calf-thymus DNA was treated with 4-oxo-2-nonenal. These data illustrate the diversity of reactive electrophiles produced from the peroxidative decomposition of lipids and have implications in fully assessing the role of lipid peroxidation in mutagenesis and carcinogenesis.

The corona discharge used to generate positive and negative ions under conventional atmospheric pressure chemical ionization conditions also provides a source of gas-phase electrons. This is thought to occur by displacement of electrons from the nitrogen sheath gas. Therefore, suitable analytes can undergo electron capture in the gas phase in a manner similar to that observed for gas chromatography/electron capture negative chemical ionization/mass spectrometry. This technique, which has been named electron capture atmospheric pressure chemical ionization/mass spectrometry, provided an increase in sensitivity of 2 orders of magnitude when compared with conventional atmospheric pressure chemical ionization methodology. It is a simple procedure to tag many biomolecules and drugs with an electron-capturing group such as the pentafluorobenzyl moiety before analysis. Pentafluorobenzyl derivatives have previously been used as electron capturing derivatives because they undergo dissociative electron capture in the gas phase to generate negative ions through the loss of a pentafluorobenzyl radical. A similar process was found to occur under electron capture atmospheric pressure chemical ionization conditions. By monitoring the negative ions that were formed, it was possible to obtain attomole sensitivity for pentafluorobenzyl derivatives of a representative steroid, steroid metabolite, prostaglandin, thromboxane, amino acid, and DNA-adduct.

A novel bioconjugation strategy utilizes a disulfide bond to site-specifically couple a small molecule drug to an antibody, enabling both high circulation stability and quick intracellular release.