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Updated: May 22, 2026

Purification and Analytics of a Monoclonal Antibody from Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells Using an Automated Microbioreactor System
Published on: May 1, 2019
Structural characterization of N-linked oligosaccharides on monoclonal antibody Nimotuzumab through process
Raquel Montesino1, Loany Calvo, Antonio Vallin
1Department of Carbohydrate Chemistry, Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, P.O. Box 6162, Havana 10600, Cuba. raquel.montesino@cigb.edu.cu
Abstract:
Nimotuzumab (TheraCIM, CIMAher, h-R3, humanized anti-EGF-R antibody), monoclonal antibody (mAb) manufactured at the Center of Molecular Immunology (Havana, Cuba) is currently being tested in several clinical trials. Nimotuzumab has a single N-glycosylation site in the Fc-CH2 fragment but no N-glycosylation site in the Fab region. The current study reports the full characterization of the mAb N-glycosylation and the consistency observed in several production batches from a perfusion mode culturing system that lasted between 68 and 150 days. It confirms that the N-glycan structures of Nimotuzumab expressed in the NS0 murine myeloma cell line are of the murine type. They consist mainly of fucosylated G0, G1 and G2 oligosaccharides, which are normally found in the CH2 region of IgG. Other minor species found were high mannose and sialylated structures. A small portion of the glycans were sialylated (∼12%) and the only type of sialic acid detected was N-glycolyl-sialic acid, α2,6-linked to Gal. No Galα1-3Gal moieties were detected.

