Understanding unfolding and refolding of the antibody fragment (Fab) III: Mapping covalent and non-covalent interactions during in-vitro refolding of light chain, heavy chain, and Fab.

In-vitro refolding of the antibody fragments from inclusion bodies is a critical manufacturing bottleneck. We have previously reported that Fab refolding involves the formation of an intermediate. To further decode the refolding pathway, we have mapped the covalent and non-covalent interactions during in-vitro refolding of individual light chain (LC), heavy chain (HC), and intact Fab. Intrinsic fluorescence analysis was performed to map the non-covalent interactions, whereas time-dependent disulfide mapping was performed using LC-MS/MS analysis under non-reducing and reducing atmospheres. Refolding of purified LC, HC, and intact Fab (Biosimilar rHu Ranibizumab) was investigated in the study. Under the reducing condition, LC, HC, and intact Fab required around 96, 30, and 70 h, respectively, whereas, under non-reducing conditions, they required only 48, 10, and 48 h, respectively, to acquire the native conformation. The disulfide bond mapping revealed that the bond between LC_Cys23/Cys88 is more unstable. The peptides mapped with the inter-chain disulfide bond were identified at 48 h during the refolding and can be considered as the rate-limiting step in (Fab) refolding. We have also studied a new refolding strategy involving assembly of separately refolded LC and HC into Fab molecule. In this case the Fab refolding yield was low (18.0 ± 1.36%), indicating inefficient assembly of refolded LC and HC chain into native Fab molecule.