High-throughput untargeted screening of biotherapeutic macromolecules in equine plasma by UHPLC-HRMS/MS: Application to monoclonal antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins for doping control

Many innovative biotherapeutics have been marketed in the last decade. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) and Fc-fusion proteins (Fc-proteins) have been developed for the treatment of diverse diseases (cancer, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory disorders) and now represent an important part of targeted therapies. However, the ready availability of such biomolecules, sometimes characterized by their anabolic, anti-inflammatory, or erythropoiesis-stimulating properties, raises concerns about their potential misuse as performance enhancers for human and animal athletes. In equine doping control laboratories, a method has been reported to detect the administration of a specific human biotherapeutic in equine plasma; but no high-throughput method has been described for the screening without any a priori knowledge of human or murine biotherapeutic. In this context, a new broad-spectrum screening method involving UHPLC-HRMS/MS has been developed for the untargeted analysis of murine or human mAbs and related macromolecules in equine plasma. This approach, consisting of a pellet digestion strategy performed in a 96-well plate, demonstrates reliable performances at low concentrations (pmol/mL range) with high-throughput capability (approximate to 100 samples/day). Targeting species-specific proteotypic peptides located within the constant parts of mAbs enables the universal detection of human biotherapeutics only by monitoring 10 peptides. As proof of principle, this strategy successfully detected different biotherapeutics in spiked plasma samples, and allowed, for the first time, the detection of a human mAb up to 10 days after a 0.12 mg/kg administration to a horse. This development will expand the analytical capabilities of horse doping control laboratories towards protein-based biotherapeutics with adequate sensitivity, throughput, and cost-effectiveness.

Automated summary

In the past decade, many innovative biotherapeutics have been marketed. Monoclonal antibodies and Fc-fusion proteins have been developed as targeted therapies for the treatment of various diseases. However, the misuse of these biomolecules as performance enhancers raises concerns. A new screening method using UHPLC-HRMS/MS has been developed for the analysis of mAbs and related macromolecules in equine plasma. This method demonstrates reliable performances at low concentrations with high-throughput capability, enabling the detection of human biotherapeutics in horses.