PhD defence O.O. Olaleye

Methodology for studying protein species of therapeutic proteins

using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and ion exchange chromatography

Protein Medications: Understanding them better

Protein medications that have been given to patients can experience modifications in the blood of patients and it is necessary to pay attention to this more closely. These medications are used to treat patients with certain diseases such as cancer and these modifications may affect their ability to function. To study these modifications, there is a need to create methods to recover the protein medications from the blood of patients as well as examine them.The research in this thesis was focused on designing methods to acquire the protein medications from blood using affinity enrichment and analysis using mass spectrometry and ion exchange chromatography. Affinity enrichment involves the use of agents to bind to protein medications, mass spectrometry is a technique that enables the separation and detection of substances based on their mass and ion exchange chromatography separates substances using their electric charges.The results described in this thesis show a successful recovery of the protein medications from the blood of patients who received them. In addition, the modifications that occurred in the protein medications were detected accordingly. These achievements in this thesis are expected to provide a basis for improvements and possible application to a larger number of patients that will hopefully lead to the development of better protein medications that will be more resistant to modifications.

Promotors: prof. dr. R.P.H. Bischoff, prof. dr. N.C. van de Merbel