Determination of PEGylation homogeneity of polyethylene glycol‐modified canine uricase

Polyethylene glycol-modified canine uricase (PEG-UHC) was prepared by modifying the ε-amino group of lysine residues on the canine uricase (UHC) protein to near-saturation with 5 kDa monomethoxyl-polyethylene glycol succinimide (mPEG-SPA-5k). In order to accurately determine the PEGylation uniformity of PEG-UHC, CZE, 3-8% gradient gel SDS-PAGE, and imaging CIEF (iCIEF) analyses were compared. CZE could not effectively separate PEG-UHC proteins with different degrees of modification, 3-8% gradient gel SDS-PAGE could separate PEG-UHC into seven gel bands; however, most of the gel bands were smeared or blurred, and the separation of PEG-UHC samples by iCIEF was significantly better than that by 3-8% gradient gel SDS-PAGE. Under denatured conditions, iCIEF separated 12 pI peaks, and could also accurately quantify the relative monomer PEG-UHC content. More than 85% of the total monomeric PEG-UHC was conjugated with 7-12 PEG molecules; of this 85%, approximately 40% was conjugated with 9-10 PEG molecules. These results demonstrated that iCIEF exhibits good potential for determining the PEGylation homogeneity of PEGylated protein drugs.