Suppression of IgM proteolysis by conformational stabilization through excipients

Abstract

Protease activity from host cell lines may cause product loss or affect the quality of recombinant proteins. In this study, we showed that excipients like glycine and sorbitol reduce the proteolysis of an immunoglobulin M (IgM) in the presence of added proteases like α-chymotrypsin, papain, and pepsin. The activity of the proteases in the IgM-protective environments was conserved or even enhanced as tested using low molecular weight substrates. Thus, a higher resistance against proteolytic degradation appears to be caused by the conformational stabilization of the IgM due to preferential exclusion of sorbitol and glycine.