Subunit Comparability Analysis of Etanercept and Biosimilar

February 16, 2018 | References |

FabRICATOR+Enbrel-rakResearchers at the Free University of Berlin have performed a comparability study of the Fc-fusion protein etanercept and a biosimilar using FabRICATOR® and subunit analysis. The etanercept molecule consists of an IgG1 Fc domain fused to a tumor necrosis factor alpha receptor (TNFaR) and is used for autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The originator etanercept (Enbrel®) was compared to its biosimilar Altebrel™ (AryoGen Pharmed), that has been launched in Iran.

The scientists used FabRICATOR to digest the Fc-fusion protein and studied the subunits, TNFaR and Fc/2 separately using middle-up mass spectrometry. Interestingly, differences in the glycosylation pattern,  the level of C-terminal lysine clipping and oxidation status of the two biopharmaceuticals were observed. The c-terminal lysine clipping was only observed in the originator molecule whereas the biosimilar showed no lysine clipping. Looking at the Fc/2 glycosylation profile using middle-up is a rapid way of determining the glycan content and the relative abundance of the species. In this case, the pattern was similar although the peak intensities differed, indicating a variation between the originator and the biosimilar.

Taken together, this paper highlights the use of FabRICATOR for comparability assessment of Fc-fusion proteins and shows that the middle-level approach can be used for fingerprinting of originator and biosimilar biopharmaceuticals.

Find the article using this link:

Montacir, O. et al., 2018. Physicochemical Characterization, Glycosylation Pattern and Biosimilarity Assessment of the Fusion Protein Etanercept. The protein journal, 8(6), pp.1136–16.