Capillary zone electrophoresis and packed capillary column liquid chromatographic analysis of recombinant human...

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and packed capillary column liquid chromatography (micro-LC) have been applied to the analysis of the recombinant human protein interleukin-4 (rhIL-4). Separations for both the parent protein and its enzymatic digest were developed for the purpose of characterizing protein purity and identity. CZE separations of the intact protein were investigated over the pH range of 4.5 to 8.0 using uncoated fused silica capillaries. Gradient reversed-phase micro-LC was performed using 0.32 mm packed capillary columns at flow-rates of 5-6 microliters/min. Emphasis was placed on the ability of these methods to separate close structural variants and degradation products of the protein. Peptide mapping of the tryptic digest of rhIL-4 using a combination of CZE and micro-LC provided complimentary high resolution methods for establishing protein identity. Reproducible separations were achieved using sub-picomol amounts of sample. The advantages and problems encountered with these two techniques for characterizing rhIL-4 were assessed.