Detection of antibodies against therapeutic proteins in the presence of residual therapeutic protein using a solid-phase extraction with acid dissociation (SPEAD) sample treatment prior to ELISA

The evaluation of the potential immunogenicity of therapeutic proteins in nonclinical safety studies has become complicated by the development of biopharmaceuticals that are dosed at high concentrations and/or have long half lives. These products remain in the circulation of the test system for extended periods of time, resulting in samples containing high concentrations of drug that interfere with standard immunogenicity assays.This protocol describes a novel solid-phase extraction with acid dissociation (SPEAD) sample treatment that removes the interfering therapeutic protein “drug” from the sample prior to performance of a direct immunoassay for detection of anti-drug antibodies (ADA). A biotin–avidin capture technique is used to physically separate ADA and ADA:Drug complexes from the drug and the sample matrix. The acid dissociation step removes the ADA from the biotin–avidin complex, and detection is performed by simple direct enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). The SPEAD treatment allows for detection of ADA in an ELISA format and results in a >10–100-fold increase in residual drug tolerance as compared to an immunoassay without the sample treatment. The method can be used for serum samples from all species, but is presented here as an assay for detection of anti-drug antibodies in cynomolgus monkey serum.