The interactions of antibodies with myeloid Fc gamma receptors and the complement system are regulated by an Asn297-linked glycan in the Fc portion of IgG. Alterations of serum IgG-Fc glycosylation... Show moreThe interactions of antibodies with myeloid Fc gamma receptors and the complement system are regulated by an Asn297-linked glycan in the Fc portion of IgG. Alterations of serum IgG-Fc glycosylation have been reported in various autoimmune diseases, and correlate with treatment response and disease activity. We hypothesized that IgG-Fc glycosylation is altered in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) and associates with response to anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody treatment (rituximab). IgG-Fc glycosylation was analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. We found that IgG-Fc glycosylation was identical between refractory ITP patients (HOVON64 trial; N = 108) and healthy controls (N = 120). Two months after rituximab treatment, we observed a shift in Fc glycosylation, with a mean 1.7% reduction in galactosylation for IgG1 and IgG4 and a mean 1.5% increase for bisection in IgG1, IgG2/3 and IgG4 (adjusted p < 1.7 x 10(-3) and p < 2 x 10(-4), respectively). Neither baseline nor longitudinal changes in IgG-Fc glycosylation after rituximab were associated with clinical treatment response. We conclude that IgG-Fc glycosylation in refractory ITP is similar to healthy controls and does not predict treatment responses to rituximab. The observed changes two months after treatment suggest that rituximab may influence total serum IgG-Fc glycosylation. Overall, our study suggests that the pathophysiology of refractory ITP may differ from other autoimmune diseases. Show less
A broad-based interlaboratory study of glycosylation profiles of a reference and modified IgG antibody involving 103 reports from 76 laboratories.Glycosylation is a topic of intense current... Show moreA broad-based interlaboratory study of glycosylation profiles of a reference and modified IgG antibody involving 103 reports from 76 laboratories.Glycosylation is a topic of intense current interest in the development of biopharmaceuticals because it is related to drug safety and efficacy. This work describes results of an interlaboratory study on the glycosylation of the Primary Sample (PS) of NISTmAb, a monoclonal antibody reference material. Seventy-six laboratories from industry, university, research, government, and hospital sectors in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia submitted a total of 103 reports on glycan distributions. The principal objective of this study was to report and compare results for the full range of analytical methods presently used in the glycosylation analysis of mAbs. Therefore, participation was unrestricted, with laboratories choosing their own measurement techniques. Protein glycosylation was determined in various ways, including at the level of intact mAb, protein fragments, glycopeptides, or released glycans, using a wide variety of methods for derivatization, separation, identification, and quantification. Consequently, the diversity of results was enormous, with the number of glycan compositions identified by each laboratory ranging from 4 to 48. In total, one hundred sixteen glycan compositions were reported, of which 57 compositions could be assigned consensus abundance values. These consensus medians provide community-derived values for NISTmAb PS. Agreement with the consensus medians did not depend on the specific method or laboratory type. The study provides a view of the current state-of-the-art for biologic glycosylation measurement and suggests a clear need for harmonization of glycosylation analysis methods. Show less
In this thesis, methods were developed, and antibody glycosylation was characterized in order to further the clinical application of antibody glycosylation analysis. New mass spectrometric... Show moreIn this thesis, methods were developed, and antibody glycosylation was characterized in order to further the clinical application of antibody glycosylation analysis. New mass spectrometric workflows were introduced in Chapters 2 and 8. Chapter 7 showed the differential characteristics of murine IgG glycosylation of different strains and highlighted the profound differences between humans and mice, with regard to IgG glycosylation. Chapters 4 and 8 showed the use of controlled human situations to study the regulatory mechanisms of IgG and IgA glycosylation. Finally, Chapters 3, 5 and 6, identified glycosidic differences with specified (patho)physiological conditions, which might be exploited for patient stratification in the future. Show less
Plomp, R.; Haan, N. de; Bondt, A.; Murli, J.; Dotz, V.; Wuhrer, M. 2018
Bottom-up glycoproteomics by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is an established approach for assessing glycosylation in a protein- and site-specific manner. Consequently, tools are... Show moreBottom-up glycoproteomics by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is an established approach for assessing glycosylation in a protein- and site-specific manner. Consequently, tools are needed to automatically align, calibrate, and integrate LC-MS glycoproteomics data. We developed a modular software package designed to tackle the individual aspects of an LC-MS experiment, called LaCyTools. Targeted alignment is performed using user defined m/z and retention time (t(r)) combinations. Subsequently, sum spectra are created for each user defined analyte group. Quantitation is performed on the sum spectra, where each user defined analyte can have its own tr, minimum, and maximum charge states. Consequently, LaCyTobls deals with multiple charge states, which gives an output per charge state if desired, and offers various analyte and spectra quality criteria. We compared throughput and performance of LaCyTools to combinations of available tools that deal with individual processing steps. LaCyTools yielded relative quantitation of equal precision (relative standard deviation <0.5%) and higher trueness due to the use of MS peak area instead of MS peak intensity. In conclusion, LaCyTools is an accurate automated data processing tool for high-throughput analysis of LC-MS glycoproteomics data. Released under the Apache 2.0 license, it is freely available on GitHub (https://github.com/Tarskin/LaCyTools). Show less
Plomp, R.; Bondt, A.; Haan, N. de; Rombouts, Y.; Wuhrer, M. 2016
Antibody glycosylation analysis has seen methodological progress resulting in new findings with regard to antibody glycan structure and function in recent years. For example, antigen-specific IgG... Show moreAntibody glycosylation analysis has seen methodological progress resulting in new findings with regard to antibody glycan structure and function in recent years. For example, antigen-specific IgG glycosylation analysis is now applicable for clinical samples because of the increased sensitivity of measurements, and this has led to new insights in the relationship between IgG glycosylation and various diseases. Furthermore, many new methods have been developed for the purification and analysis of IgG Fc glycopeptides, notably multiple reaction monitoring for high-throughput quantitative glycosylation analysis. In addition, new protocols for IgG Fab glycosylation analysis were established revealing autoimmune disease-associated changes. Functional analysis has shown that glycosylation of IgA and IgE is involved in transport across the intestinal epithelium and receptor binding, respectively. Show less
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging is a rapidly evolving field in which mass spectrometry techniques are applied directly on tissues to characterize the... Show moreMatrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging is a rapidly evolving field in which mass spectrometry techniques are applied directly on tissues to characterize the spatial distribution of various molecules such as lipids, protein/peptides, and recently also N-glycans. Glycans are involved in many biological processes and several glycan changes have been associated with different kinds of cancer, making them an interesting target group to study. An important analytical challenge for the study of glycans by MALDI mass spectrometry is the labile character of sialic acid groups which are prone to in-source/postsource decay, thereby biasing the recorded glycan profile. We therefore developed a linkage-specific sialic acid derivatization by dimethylamidation and subsequent amidation and transferred this onto formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues for MALDI imaging of N-glycans. Our results show (i) the successful stabilization of sialic acids in a linkage specific manner, thereby not only increasing the detection range, but also adding biological meaning, (ii) that no noticeable lateral diffusion is induced during to sample preparation, (iii) the potential of mass spectrometry imaging to spatially characterize the N-glycan expression within heterogeneous tissues. Show less
Haan, N. de; Reiding, K.R.; Driessen, G.; Burg, M. van der; Wuhrer, M. 2016
Glycosylation on the fragment crystallizable (Fc) region of immunoglobulin G (IgG) has a large influence on the interaction of the antibody with Fc gamma receptors (Fc gamma Rs). IgG consists of... Show moreGlycosylation on the fragment crystallizable (Fc) region of immunoglobulin G (IgG) has a large influence on the interaction of the antibody with Fc gamma receptors (Fc gamma Rs). IgG consists of four subclasses that all have distinct affinities for the different Fc gamma Rs. Knowledge about the Fc-glycosylation in healthy human is valuable as reference for new biomarkers and in the design of biopharmaceuticals that rely on IgG Fc-glycosylation. Previously, subclass-specific characterization of IgG Fc-glycosylation was performed for healthy adults, pregnant women, and newborns. For young healthy children, however, the subclass-specific description of IgG Fc-glycosylation is still lacking. Therefore, we performed the IgG subclass-specific analysis of the Fc-glycosylation of 130 healthy humans between birth and 40 years of age, including 22 samples derived from the umbilical cords of newborns. The analysis was performed by a previously published matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI)-time-of-flight (TOF)-mass spectrometry (MS) workflow, including a derivatization step for the linkage-specific stabilization of sialic acids. The characterization revealed that when children start to produce their own IgG they have a decreased galactosylation, sialylation, and bisection and an increased fucosylation compared with newborns. During childhood, the fucosylation and sialylation decrease, whereas bisection increases and galactosylation stays constant. Show less
Haan, N. de; Reiding, K.R.; Haberger, M.; Reusch, D.; Falck, D.; Wuhrer, M. 2015
