A direct qPCR method for residual DNA quantification in monoclonal antibody drugs produced in CHO cells

Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells are the host cell of choice for manufacturing of monoclonal antibody (mAb) drugs in the biopharmaceutical industry. Host cell DNA is an impurity of such manufacturing process and must be controlled and monitored in order to ensure drug purity and safety. A conventional method for quantification of host residual DNA in drug requires extraction of DNA from the mAb drug substance with subsequent quantification of the extracted DNA using real-time PCR (qPCR). Here we report a method where the DNA extraction step is eliminated prior to qPCR. In this method, which we have named 'direct resDNA qPCR', the mAb drug substance is digested with a protease called KAPA in a 96-well PCR plate, the protease in the digest is then denatured at high temperature, qPCR reagents are added to the resultant reaction wells in the plate along with standards and controls in other wells of the same plate, and the plate subjected to qPCR for analysis of residual host DNA in the samples. This direct resDNA qPCR method for CHO is sensitive to 5.0fg of DNA with high precision and accuracy and has a wide linear range of determination. The method has been successfully tested with four mAbs drug, two IgG1 and two IgG4. Both the purified drug substance as well as a number of process intermediate samples, e.g., bioreactor harvest, Protein A column eluate and ion-exchange column eluates were tested. This method simplifies the residual DNA quantification protocol, reduces time of analysis and leads to increased assay sensitivity and development of automated high-throughput methods.