Adapting dried blood spot sampling for an anti-therapeutic antibody immunogenicity assay

Dried blood spot sampling is a microvolume sampling technique with many potential advantages. It allows for easier handling and less expensive shipment and storage of biological samples. Additionally, it can provide ethical benefits in the pre-clinical setting through a reduction in animal usage by allowing intensive serial sample collection from the same animals. In the clinical setting, ease of sample collection, greater flexibility of sample storage, and shipping are distinct advantages. These advantages can enhance preclinical and clinical data quality, where immunogenicity monitoring plays an important role in the interpretation of pharmacokinetic data. To date, a method for usage of dried blood spot sampling with an immunogenicity assay has not been published. Herein we demonstrate that the measurement of anti-drug antibodies (ADA) using DBS was comparable to traditional methods in terms of reproducibility, assay sensitivity and drug tolerance. The data demonstrate that DBS is a viable sample collection method, and in some cases may be preferred, over classic serum or plasma sampling for antidrug antibody assays.