Application of capillary zone electrophoresis and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography in the biopharmaceutical industry for the quantitative analysis of the monosaccharides released from a highly glycosylated therapeutic protein

Two assays for the quantitative determination of the neutral and amino-monosaccharides attached to a therapeutic glycoprotein were developed using capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and RP-HPLC. These assays meet the strict batch release requirements of the quality control in biopharmaceutical industry. The monosaccharides were released from the glycoprotein by hydrolysis with 2N trifluoroacetic acid. In the CZE assay the monosaccharides were reacetylated prior to derivatization with 8-aminopyrenesulfonic acid (APTS), reacetylation in the glycoprotein matrix was investigated in detail. The RP-HPLC method used pre-column derivatization with anthranilic acid in methanol–acetate–borate reaction medium; reacetylation was not necessary. However, epimerization of the different monosaccharides was observed and studied in detail. For the quantitative assay, separation of the amino-monosaccharide epimers had to be developed. The HPLC assay was validated.