Case study: Application of mass spectrometry for evaluation of N-glycosylation, lipids and protein impurities in a plant-made influenza VLP vaccine.

摘要

Several mass spectrometry techniques were used to identify compounds found in traces in plant-made HA-VLPs influenza vaccine preparations. Results showed that the preparations were of high purity and that most of the contaminant proteins are known to be associated with plant lipid rafts. The nature of the lipids found in the samples further confirmed that VLPs form through budding through lipid rafts in planta as viruses do in mammalian cells. Mass spectrometry also allowed the characterization of N-glycans found on the HA protein and confirmed the presence of the plant-specific sugar moieties: alpha1-3 fucose and beta1-2 xylose. Plant-made VLPs are currently evaluated in clinical trials. They have been found to safe, well-tolerated and immunogenic (1).