Improving SDS-PAGE method for monoclonal antibodies: The advantages of Tris-Acetate over Tris-Glycine SDS-PAGE system

Rozhan Sonboli1, Zeinab Najafi1, Nahid Zarezadeh1

  • 1Biopharmaceutical Research Center, AryoGen Pharmed Inc., Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran.

Present study compares two different buffer systems for the electrophoretic separation of the IgG1 and IgG2 Monoclonal Antibodies using SDS-PAGE method. A modified Tris-acetate system was shown to be superior for separation of these proteins in a 6-20% gradient gel as compared with the traditionally used Tris-glycine method. This modified Tris-acetate buffer system showed sharper bands, more accurate determination of molecular weight, higher resolution, and better estimation of sub-fragments with closer results to those obtained by Capillary Gel Electrophoresis. Also in a parallel experiment, effect of IgG deglycosylation by PNGase-F enzyme was investigated and revealed no significant improvement on the SDS-PAGE results.