Population Balance Modeling of Antibodies Aggregation Kinetics

The aggregates morphology and the aggregation kinetics of a model monoclonal antibody under acidic conditions have been investigated. Growth occurs via irreversible cluster-cluster coagulation forming compact, fractal aggregates with fractal dimension of 2.6. We measured the time evolution of the average radius of gyration, < R-g >, and the average hydrodynamic radius, < R-h >, by in situ light scattering, and simulated the aggregation kinetics by a modified Smoluchowski's population balance equations. The analysis indicates that aggregation does not occur under diffusive control, and allows quantification of effective intermolecular interactions, expressed in terms of the Fuchs stability ratio (W). In particular, by introducing a dimensionless time weighed on W, the time evolutions of < R-h > measured under various operating conditions (temperature, pH, type and concentration of salt) collapse on a single master curve. The analysis applies also to data reported in the literature when growth by cluster-cluster coagulation dominates, showing a certain level of generality in the antibodies aggregation behavior. The quantification of the stability ratio gives important physical insights into the process, including the Arrhenius dependence of the aggregation rate constant and the relationship between monomer-monomer and cluster-cluster interactions. Particularly, it is found that the reactivity of non-native monomers is larger than that of non-native aggregates, likely due to the reduction of the number of available hydrophobic patches during aggregation.