Methods for comparing the immunogenicity of products and uses thereof

1. A method of comparing an immunogenicity of a test product to an immunogenicity of a reference product, the method comprising:

a) administering the test product to a subject to produce antibodies to the test product;

b) contacting the antibodies of (a) with fragments of the test product to form antibody-fragment complexes;

c) contacting a first portion of the antibody-fragment complexes of (b) with the test product to displace the fragments from the antibody-fragment complexes;

d) contacting a second portion of the antibody-fragment complexes of (b) with the reference product to displace the fragments from the antibody-fragment complexes; and

e) comparing the fragments displaced by the test product to the fragments displaced by the reference product.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein (a) comprises repeatedly administering the test product to the subject.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein (a) further comprises administering an adjuvant with the test product.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the adjuvant is a humoral immune adjuvant.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the humoral immune adjuvant is selected from the group consisting of Freund's complete adjuvant and Freund's incomplete adjuvant.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the adjuvant is a mucosal immune adjuvant.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the mucosal immune adjuvant is selected from the group consisting of cholera toxin, pertussin toxin, and heat-labile toxin.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subject is an animal selected from the group consisting of mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, pigs, goats, sheep, cows, monkeys and apes.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the antibodies produced in (a) are purified.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fragments in (b) are obtained by partial hydrolysis of the test product.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the partial hydrolysis of the test product is performed using a protease.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fragments of (b) are labeled with a detectable agent.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fragments are displaced by a portion of an intact immunogenic species in the test product or reference product.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein (e) comprises analyzing the fragments displaced using a technique selected from the group consisting of electrophoresis, isoelectric focusing, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, liquid chromatography, and combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising repeating (a)-(e) using a different subject.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising repeating (a)-(e) using fragments resulting from a different method of hydrolysis of the test product.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein a different protease is used in the hydrolysis of the test product.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the test product is selected from the group consisting of proteinaceous products, recombinant DNA products, peptides, and products derived from naturally occurring proteins.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fragments of (b) are peptides.

20. A method of comparing an immunogenicity of a test product to an immunogenicity of a reference product, the method comprising:

a) administering the reference product to a subject to produce antibodies to the reference product;

b) contacting the antibodies of (a) with reference fragments of the reference product to foil reference antibody-fragment complexes;

c) contacting a first portion of the reference antibody-fragment complexes of (b) with the test product to displace the reference fragments from the reference antibody-fragment complexes;

d) contacting a second portion of the reference antibody-fragment complexes of (b) with the reference product to displace the reference fragments from the reference antibody-fragment complexes; and

e) comparing the reference fragments displaced by the test product to the reference fragments displaced by the reference product.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising:

f) administering the test product to a subject to produce antibodies to the test product, wherein the subject is the same subject in (a) or a different subject;

g) contacting the antibodies of (f) with test fragments of the test product to form test antibody-fragment complexes;

h) contacting a first portion of the test antibody-fragment complexes of (g) with the test product to displace the test fragments from the test antibody-fragment complexes;

i) contacting a second portion of the test antibody-fragment complexes of (g) with the reference product to displace the test fragments from the test antibody-fragment complexes; and

j) comparing the test fragments displaced by the test product to the test fragments displaced by the reference product.

22. A method of determining an effect of a change in manufacturing process on an immunogenicity of a test product, the method comprising comparing the immunogenicity of the test product to the immunogenicity of a reference product, wherein the test product and the reference product are produced using at least one differing manufacturing process, the method comprising:

a) administering the test product to a subject to produce antibodies to the test product;

b) contacting the antibodies with fragments of the test product to form antibody-fragment complexes;

c) contacting a first portion of the antibody-fragment complexes of (b) with the test product to displace fragments from the antibody-fragment complexes;

d) contacting a second portion of the antibody-fragment complexes of (b) with the reference product to displace fragments from the antibody-fragment complexes; and

e) comparing the fragments displaced by the test product to the fragments displaced by the reference product.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the change in manufacturing process is selected from a change in the group consisting of a manufacturing procedure, manufacturing site, manufacturing scale, manufacturing equipment, formulation, source of cells used to produce the test product, type of cells used to produce the test product, method of cell culture, reagent used in the production of the test product, purification technique, and combinations thereof.