Characterization of recombinant antibodies for cancer therapy by infrared spectroscopy

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to study the structure of the recombinant antibodies 1E10, anti-CD20 and hR3, which are used as anti-cancer therapeutic drugs. We tested their sensitivity against different conditions and treatments such as pH, temperature, freeze-thaw cycles and drying, which are relevant for the practical usefulness of the drugs. All antibodies were stable against moderate temperature increases (up to 50 °C) and pH changes (range 5–9). 1E10 was sensitive to extreme pH values (pH 3 and 12), whereas hR3 was most sensitive to temperature (at and above 60 °C). We did not observe any significant changes upon freeze-thaw and drying treatments. The secondary structure content of all three antibodies was estimated to be similar to that of IgG with ∼64% β-sheet, 0% α-helix and ∼36% other structure.