Machine learning and statistical analyses for extracting and characterizing "fingerprints" of antibody aggregation at container interfaces from flow microscopy images.

Therapeutic proteins are exposed to numerous stresses during their manufacture, shipping, storage and administration to patients, causing them to aggregate and form particles through a variety of different mechanisms. These varied mechanisms generate particle populations with characteristic morphologies, creating "fingerprints" that are reflected in images recorded using flow imaging microscopy. Particle population fingerprints in test samples can be extracted and compared against those of particles produced under baseline conditions using an algorithm that combines machine learning tools such as convolutional neural networks with statistical tools such as nonparametric density estimation and Rosenblatt transform-based goodness-of-fit hypothesis testing. This analysis provides a quantitative method with user-specified type 1 error rates to determine whether the mechanisms that produce particles in test samples differ from particle formation mechanisms operative under baseline conditions. As a demonstration, this algorithm was used to compare particles within intravenous immunoglobulin formulations that were exposed to freeze-thawing and shaking stresses within a variety of different containers. This analysis revealed that seemingly subtle differences in containers (e.g., glass vials from different manufacturers) generated distinguishable particle populations after the stresses were applied. This algorithm can be used to assess the impact of process and formulation changes on aggregation-related product instabilities.