High Throughput Post-Labeling Cleanup of Biopharmaceutical Glycans

Ludger has developed a fast, high-throughput system for post-labeling cleanup of glycan samples. The LudgerClean T1 cartridge system is designed for drug glycoprofiling analysts who want the reliability of S-cartridges but also want to process larger numbers of samples easily and get the results more quickly. The cartridges work with a Ludger-Velocity™ SPE vacuum manifold.

HPLC analysis of fluorescently labeled oligosaccharides is a widely used tool for biopharmaceutical glycoprofiling. In this process, glycans are released from the therapeutic glycoprotein then tagged with a fluorescent dye such as 2-AB (2-aminobenzamide) or 2-AA (2-aminobenzoic acid) by reductive amination prior to chromatography. Excess labeling reagents such as dye and reducing agent interfere with the HPLC analysis - so need to be removed without disturbing the relative proportions of the various glycan species.

One method for achieving post-labeling cleanup is the use of LudgerClean S-cartridges. These employ a hydrophilic membrane to separate the labeled glycans from non-glycan contaminants and are routinely used in the biopharma industry during glycoprofiling QC for lot release of FDA and EMA approved biopharmaceuticals. They are also the method of choice in our laboratories for detailed characterization of drug glycosylation patterns for regulatory submissions. S-cartridges work well but they are slow and not suited for high throughput (HT) work. For this reason Ludger has developed the LudgerClean T1 cartridge system.