Polyethylene glycol (PEG) represents an effective strategy to improve the pharmacokinetic profile of a molecule as it extends the biotherapeutic's half-life, masks immunogenic epitopes or modifies its distribution. The addition of one or multiple PEG moieties, in either linear or branched form, is known to carry the risk of potentially inducing an immunogenic response against PEG. The importance of accurately quantifying anti-PEG antibodies during a clinical study is well recognized and stems from the fact that anti-PEG antibodies have been shown to negatively impact the efficacy of the biotherapeutic that the PEG is coupled to. As a consequence, sponsors are encouraged to develop immunogenicity assays to assess appropriately the presence of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) against the protein component as well as the PEG. However, detection of anti-PEG antibodies is complicated by a number of technical challenges, including the availability of appropriate positive control material. In addition, the fact that some anti-PEG antibodies are known to circulate as low-affinity IgM, drives the need for an assay able to detect low affinity anti-PEG ADA even in the presence of high concentrations of the biotherapeutic. To address this need, we developed and validated an Affinity Capture Elution (ACE)-AGL assay to detect anti-drug and anti-PEG antibodies. In this assay, which we call ACE-AGL, ADA are captured by biotin-PEG-drug, acid eluted and re-captured on a second plate coated with protein AGL. ADA are then detected using Ruthenium-PEG-drug. The new assay format described is highly sensitive to both anti-drug and anti-PEG antibodies and very drug-tolerant. The ACE-AGL assay is easy to perform and has been successfully validated at two separate CROs. We propose the ACE-AGL format as a valid and effective alternative to the currently available assay methods.
Keywords: Anti-drug antibodies; Immunogenicity; PEG.
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