Comparing the glycosylation patterns of recombinant glycoproteins.

The glycosylation profile of a recombinant glycoprotein can not only significantly affect its therapeutic profile, but is also extremely sensitive to cell-culture and purification conditions. To define glycosylation patterns and to ensure consistency of recombinant glycoproteins among different preparations requires highly sensitive and reproducible analytical methods that can be used routinely. New strategies and instrumentation are being developed which should allow such analysis to be largely automated.