1. Comprehensive characterization of bacterial glycoconjugate vaccines by liquid chromatography - mass spectrometry.
- Author
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Di Marco F, Hipgrave Ederveen AL, van Schaick G, Moran AB, Domínguez-Vega E, Nicolardi S, Blöchl C, Koeleman CA, Danuser R, Al Kaabi A, Dotz V, Grijpstra J, Beurret M, Anish C, and Wuhrer M
- Subjects
- Glycosylation, Mass Spectrometry methods, Vaccines, Conjugate chemistry, Vaccines, Conjugate immunology, Chromatography, Liquid methods, Chromatography, Reverse-Phase methods, Glycoconjugates chemistry, Glycoconjugates immunology, Bacterial Vaccines immunology, Bacterial Vaccines chemistry, Glycopeptides chemistry, Glycopeptides analysis
- Abstract
Bacterial pathogens can cause a broad range of infections with detrimental effects on health. Vaccine development is essential as multi-drug resistance in bacterial infections is a rising concern. Recombinantly produced proteins carrying O-antigen glycosylation are promising glycoconjugate vaccine candidates to prevent bacterial infections. However, methods for their comprehensive structural characterization are lacking. Here, we present a bottom-up approach for their site-specific characterization, detecting N-glycopeptides by nano reversed-phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (RP-LC-MS). Glycopeptide analyses revealed information on partial site-occupancy and site-specific glycosylation heterogeneity and helped corroborate the polysaccharide structures and their modifications. Bottom-up analysis was complemented by intact glycoprotein analysis using nano RP-LC-MS allowing the fast visualization of the polysaccharide distribution in the intact glycoconjugate. At the glycopeptide level, the model glycoconjugates analyzed showed different repeat unit (RU) distributions that spanned from 1 to 21 RUs attached to each of the different glycosylation sites. Interestingly, the intact glycoprotein analysis displayed a RU distribution ranging from 1 to 28 RUs, showing the predominant species when the different glycopeptide distributions are combined in the intact glycoconjugate. The complete workflow based on LC-MS measurements allows detailed and comprehensive analysis of the glycosylation state of glycoconjugate vaccines., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: A.B.M., R.D., V.D., A.A.K., J.G., M.B., and C.A. are employees of Janssen Vaccines. All other authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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