Weak protein-protein interactions are thought to modulate the viscoelastic properties of concentrated antibody solutions. Predicting the viscoelastic behavior of concentrated antibodies from their dilute solution behavior is of significant interest and remains a challenge. Here, we show that the diffusion interaction parameter (k(D)), a component of the osmotic second virial coefficient (B(2)) that is amenable to high-throughput measurement in dilute solutions, correlates well with the viscosity of concentrated monoclonal antibody (mAb) solutions. We measured the k(D) of 29 different mAbs (IgG(1) and IgG(4)) in four different solvent conditions (low and high ion normality) and found a linear dependence between k(D) and the exponential coefficient that describes the viscosity concentration profiles (|R| ≥ 0.9). Through experimentally measured effective charge measurements, under low ion normality where the electroviscous effect can dominate, we show that the mAb solution viscosity is poorly correlated with the mAb net charge (|R| ≤ 0.6). With this large data set, our results provide compelling evidence in support of weak intermolecular interactions, in contrast to the notion that the electroviscous effect is important in governing the viscoelastic behavior of concentrated mAb solutions. Our approach is particularly applicable as a screening tool for selecting mAbs with desirable viscosity properties early during lead candidate selection.

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Asparaginyl (Asn) deamidation could lead to altered potency, safety, and/or pharmacokinetics of therapeutic protein drugs. In this study, we investigated the effects of several different carboxylic acids on Asn deamidation rates using an IgG1 monoclonal antibody (mAb1*) and a model hexapeptide (peptide1) with the sequence YGKNGG. Thermodynamic analyses of the kinetics data revealed that higher deamidation rates are associated with predominantly more negative ΔS and, to a lesser extent, more positive ΔH. The observed differences in deamidation rates were attributed to the unique ability of each type of carboxylic acid to stabilize the energetically unfavorable transition-state conformations required for imide formation. Quantitative structure property relationship (QSPR) analysis using kinetic data demonstrated that molecular descriptors encoding for the geometric spatial distribution of atomic properties on various carboxylic acids are effective determinants for the deamidation reaction. Specifically, the number of O-O and O-H atom pairs on carboxyl and hydroxyl groups with interatomic distances of 4-5 Å on a carboxylic acid buffer appears to determine the rate of deamidation. Collectively, the results from structural and thermodynamic analyses indicate that carboxylic acids presumably form multiple hydrogen bonds and charge-charge interactions with the relevant deamidation site and provide alignment between the reactive atoms on the side chain and backbone. We propose that carboxylic acids catalyze deamidation by stabilizing a specific, energetically unfavorable transition-state conformation of l-asparaginyl intermediate II that readily facilitates bond formation between the γ-carbonyl carbon and the deprotonated backbone nitrogen for cyclic imide formation.

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