A novel fusion protein of IP10-scFv retains antibody specificity and chemokine function

We combined the specificity of tumor-specific antibody with the chemokine function of interferon-gamma inducible protein 10 (IP-10) to recruit immune effector cells in the vicinity of tumor cells. A novel fusion protein of IP10-scFv was constructed by fusing mouse IP-10 to V(H) region of single-chain Fv fragment (scFv) against acidic isoferritin (AIF), and expressed in NS0 murine myeloma cells. The IP10-scFv fusion protein was shown to maintain the specificity of the antiAIF scFv with similar affinity constant, and bind to the human hepatocarcinoma SMMC 7721 cells secreting AIF as well as the activated mouse T lymphocytes expressing CXCR3 receptor. Furthermore, the IP10-scFv protein either in solution or bound on the surface of SMMC 7721 cells induced significant chemotaxis of mouse T cells in vitro. The results indicate that the IP10-scFv fusion protein possesses both bioactivities of the tumor-specific antibody and IP-10 chemokine, suggesting its possibility to induce an enhanced immune response against the residual tumor cells in vivo.     

A novel BLyS antagonist peptide designed based on the 3-D complex structure of BCMA and BLyS

B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) is a member of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family. Because of its roles in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and Sjogren syndrome (SS), BLyS antagonists have been tested to treat SLE- and RA-like symptoms in mice and obtained optimistic results. So far, reported BLyS antagonists were mostly decoyed BLyS receptors or anti-BLyS antibodies. In this study, a novel BLyS antagonist peptide, PT, was designed based on the modeling 3-D complex structure of BCMA and BLyS. The interaction mode of PT with BLyS was analyzed theoretically. The results of competitive ELISA demonstrated that PT could inhibit the binding of BCMA-Fc and anti-BLyS antibody to BLyS in vitro. In addition, PT could partly block the proliferating activity of BLyS on mice splenocytes. The BLyS antagonizing activity of PT was significant (p<0.05). This study highlights the possibility of using BLyS antagonist peptide to neutralize BLyS activity. Further optimization of PT with computer-guided molecular design method to enhance its biopotency may be useful in developing new BLyS antagonists to treat BLyS-related autoimmune diseases.     

A new tool for monoclonal antibody analysis

Monoclonal antibody (mAb) products are extraordinarily heterogeneous due to the presence of a variety of enzymatic and chemical modifications, such as deamidation, isomerization, oxidation, glycosylation, glycation, and terminal cyclization. The modifications in different domains of the antibody molecule can result in different biological consequences. Therefore, characterization and routine monitoring of domain-specific modifications are essential to ensure the quality of the therapeutic antibody products. For this purpose, a rapid and informative methodology was developed to examine the heterogeneity of individual domains in mAb products. A recently discovered endopeptidase, IdeS, cleaves heavy chains below the hinge region, producing F(ab')₂ and Fc fragments. Following reduction of disulfide bonds, three antibody domains (LC, Fd, and Fc/2) can be released for further characterization. Subsequent analyses by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, capillary isoelectric focusing, and glycan mapping enable domain-specific profiling of oxidation, charge heterogeneity, and glycoform distribution. When coupled with reversed phase chromatography, the unique chromatographic profile of each molecule offers a simple strategy for an identity test, which is an important formal test for biopharmaceutical quality control purposes. This methodology is demonstrated for a number of IgGs of different subclasses (IgG1, IgG2, IgG4), as well as an Fc fusion protein. The presented technique provides a convenient platform approach for scientific and formal therapeutic mAb product characterization. It can also be applied in regulated drug substance batch release and stability testing of antibody and Fc fusion protein products, in particular for identity and routine monitoring of domain-specific modifications.     

Inactivation of viruses using novel protein A wash buffers

Low pH viral inactivation is typically performed in the eluate pool following the protein A capture step during the manufacturing of monoclonal antibodies and Fc‐fusion proteins. However, exposure to low pH has the potential to alter protein quality. To avoid these difficulties, novel wash buffers capable of inactivating viruses while antibodies or Fc‐fusion proteins were bound to protein A or mixed mode resins were developed. By equilibrating the column in high salt buffer (2 M ammonium sulfate or 3 M sodium chloride) after loading, the hydrophobic interactions between antibodies and protein A ligands were increased enough to prevent elution at pH 3. The ammonium sulfate was also found to cause binding of an antibody to a mixed mode cation exchange and a mixed mode anion exchange resin at pH values that caused elution in conventional cation and anion exchange resins (pH 3.5 for Capto Adhere and pH 8.0 for Capto MMC), indicating that retention was due to enhanced hydrophobic interactions. The potential of the 2 M ammonium sulfate pH 3 buffer, a 1 M arginine buffer, and a buffer containing the detergent LDAO to inactivate XMuLV virus when used as protein A wash buffers with a 1 hour contact time were studied. The high salt and detergent containing wash buffers provided about five logs of removal, determined using PCR, and complete combined removal and inactivation (> 6 logs), determined by measuring infectivity. The novel protein A washes could provide more rapid, automated viral inactivation steps with lower pool conductivities. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:406–413, 2015     

Rational design of TNFα binding proteins based on the de novo designed protein DS119

De novo protein design offers templates for engineering tailor‐made protein functions and orthogonal protein interaction networks for synthetic biology research. Various computational methods have been developed to introduce functional sites in known protein structures. De novo designed protein scaffolds provide further opportunities for functional protein design. Here we demonstrate the rational design of novel tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) binding proteins using a home‐made grafting program AutoMatch. We grafted three key residues from a virus 2L protein to a de novo designed small protein, DS119, with consideration of backbone flexibility. The designed proteins bind to TNFα with micromolar affinities. We further optimized the interface residues with RosettaDesign and significantly improved the binding capacity of one protein Tbab1‐4. These designed proteins inhibit the activity of TNFα in cellular luciferase assays. Our work illustrates the potential application of the de novo designed protein DS119 in protein engineering, biomedical research, and protein sequence‐structure‐function studies.     

一种表征蛋白质可分泌性的结构融合度特征

选择适宜的信号肽是实现外源蛋白高效分泌表达的一个重要因素。本研究利用生物信息学方法分析信号肽与外源蛋白之间的相容程度,将其定义为结构融合度,并从数学角度分析拼接信号肽与目的蛋白邻近残基之间的相互作用,提出了信号肽拼接区域与目标蛋白之间的数学模型,利用该模型进行结构融合度特征提取,以此来表征外源蛋白质的可分泌性。模拟结果显示结构融合度特征能有效区分枯草芽孢杆菌宿主的可分泌和不可分泌蛋白。研究结果有助于信号肽的选择,对目的蛋白分泌表达的优化具有一定的指导意义。     

GST-Ccd1融合蛋白的表达、纯化及多克隆抗体制备

目的：利用大肠杆菌DH5α表达GST—Ccd1融合蛋白,并用亲和层析分离纯化,进行动物免疫制备多克隆抗体。方法：利用本室构建好的pGEX-5X-1-Ccd1-N原核表达重组质粒,转化大肠杆菌DH5α,经IPTG诱导表达,在大肠杆菌表达系统中获得可溶性表达。经谷胱甘肽Sepharose 4B介质填充的层析柱分离纯化蛋白,制备抗原免疫动物,得到Ccd1的兔源多克隆抗体。结果：ELISA结果显示血清抗体效价可以达到1∶40 000。免疫组化分析表明自制的抗体能特异性与Ccd1蛋白相互作用,可以用于实验分析。结论：制备了效价高特异性良好的抗Ccd1多克隆抗体,经实验验证获得的抗体能够满足针对Ccd1的免疫印迹和免疫组化检测的实验要求,为今后深入研究Ccd1表达的组织分布、细胞内定位及其生物学功能提供了有用的实验工具。     

Use of capillary electrophoresis-sodium dodecyl sulfate to monitor disulfide scrambled forms of an Fc fusion protein during purification process

Overexpression of recombinant Fc fusion proteins in Escherichia coli frequently results in the production of inclusion bodies that are subsequently used to produce fully functional protein by an in vitro refolding process. During the refolding step, misfolded proteins such as disulfide scrambled forms can be formed, and purification steps are used to remove these product-related impurities to produce highly purified therapeutic proteins. A variety of analytical methods are commonly used to monitor protein variants throughout the purification process. Capillary electrophoresis (CE)-based techniques are gaining popularity for such applications. In this work, we used a nonreduced capillary electrophoresis–sodium dodecyl sulfate (nrCE–SDS) method for the analysis of disulfide scrambled forms in a fusion protein. Under denatured nonreduced conditions, an extra post-shoulder peak was observed at all purification steps. Detailed characterization revealed that the peak was related to the disulfide scrambled forms and was isobaric with the correctly folded product. In addition, when sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE) was used during the CE–SDS peak characterization, we observed that the migration order of scrambled forms is reversed on CE–SDS versus SDS–PAGE. This illustrates the importance of establishing proper correlation of these two techniques when they are used interchangeably to guide the purification process and to characterize proteins.     

可溶性肿瘤坏死因子受体II-脂联素球部融合蛋白的真核表达及生物学活性检测

本研究设计和构建了一种人肿瘤坏死因子受体II胞外区与人脂联素球部的融合基因sTNFRII-gAD,且相应的融合蛋白在哺乳动物细胞BHK-21S的无血清培养体系中实现了表达,并对该融合蛋白进行了初步鉴定。首先,用RT-PCR方法从人的外周血淋巴细胞总RNA中扩增人肿瘤坏死因子II型受体胞外区基因片段,与脂联素球部基因片段融合,克隆至pAAV2neo表达载体中,构建成pAAV2neo-sTNFRII-gAD。随后,用pAAV2neo-sTNFRII-gAD转染BHK-21S细胞获得G418抗性细胞BHK-21S/pAAV2neo-sTNFRII-gAD;然后,将原来含有血清的培养液换成无血清的化学成分限定的培养液,细胞从贴壁培养方式转换成悬浮培养方式;最后,收集BHK-21S/pAAV2neo-sTNFRII-gAD无血清悬浮培养24h后的培养上清,进行sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白的鉴定分析。酶切鉴定和测序结果显示,所构建的pAAV2neo-sTNFRII-gAD质粒结构正确,sTNFRII-gAD序列与预期一致;分别用抗人肿瘤坏死因子受体II和抗人脂联素球部的单克隆抗体检测pAAV2neo-sTNFRII-gAD瞬时转染的BHK-21S细胞,免疫荧光呈现阳性;免疫印迹分析在pAAV2neo-sTNFRII-gAD稳定转染的BHK-21S细胞上清中检测到sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白的表达,并以单体、三聚体和三聚体以上的多聚体形式存在。活性测定结果表明,sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白具有显著抑制TNFα杀伤L929细胞的活性。因此,本研究为下一步大量制备sTNFRII-gAD融合蛋白用于体内外功能研究提供了良好基础。     

Expression and purification of human respiratory syncytial virus recombinant fusion protein

The Human Respiratory Syncytial Virus (HRSV) fusion protein (F) was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21A using the pET28a vector at 37 °C. The protein was purified from the soluble fraction using affinity resin. The structural quality of the recombinant fusion protein and the estimation of its secondary structure were obtained by circular dichroism. Structural models of the fusion protein presented 46% of the helices in agreement with the spectra by circular dichroism analysis. There are only few studies that succeeded in expressing the HRSV fusion protein in bacteria. This is a report on human fusion protein expression in E. coli and structure analysis, representing a step forward in the development of fusion protein F inhibitors and the production of antibodies.     

Expression of recombinant human glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide in Escherichia coli by sequence-specific proteolysis of a protein A fusion protein

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) is a forty-two amino acid hormone that stimulates the secretion of insulin from the pancreatic B-cells in the presence of elevated glucose concentrations. The human GIP gene with the human A-fibrinopeptide sequence was synthesized and linked to the Staphylococcus aureus protein A gene in the vector pRIT2T. This plasmid was expressed in Escherichia coli, and the resulting fusion protein consisted of three domains: protein A for ease of purification, fibrinopeptide sequence for thrombin cleavage and human GIP. The GIP was subsequently cleaved from the fusion protein with -thrombin. The identity of the recombinant human GIP was confirmed by SDS-PAGE, ELISA, HPLC and amino-terminal amino acid sequence analysis. This recombinant product was shown to have comparable insulinotropic activity to porcine GIP in the isolated perfused pancreas.     

A broadly flavivirus cross-neutralizing monoclonal antibody that recognizes a novel epitope within the fusion loop of E protein

Flaviviruses are a group of human pathogenic, enveloped RNA viruses that includes dengue (DENV), yellow fever (YFV), West Nile (WNV), and Japanese encephalitis (JEV) viruses. Cross-reactive antibodies against Flavivirus have been described, but most of them are generally weakly neutralizing. In this study, a novel monoclonal antibody, designated mAb 2A10G6, was determined to have broad cross-reactivity with DENV 1-4, YFV, WNV, JEV, and TBEV. Phage-display biopanning and structure modeling mapped 2A10G6 to a new epitope within the highly conserved flavivirus fusion loop peptide, the (98)DRXW(101) motif. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo experiments demonstrated that 2A10G6 potently neutralizes DENV 1-4, YFV, and WNV and confers protection from lethal challenge with DENV 1-4 and WNV in murine model. Furthermore, functional studies revealed that 2A10G6 blocks infection at a step after viral attachment. These results define a novel broadly flavivirus cross-reactive mAb with highly neutralizing activity that can be further developed as a therapeutic agent against severe flavivirus infections in humans.     

Evaluation of a novel methacrylate‐based protein a resin for the purification of immunoglobulins and Fc‐fusion proteins

Protein A affinity chromatography is a central part of most commercial monoclonal antibody and Fc‐fusion protein purification processes. In the last couple years an increasing number of new Protein A technologies have emerged. One of these new Protein A technologies consists of a novel, alkaline‐tolerant, Protein A ligand coupled to a macroporous polymethacrylate base matrix that has been optimized for immunoglobulin (Ig) G capture. The resin is interesting from a technology perspective because the particle size and pore distribution of the base beads are reported to have been optimized for high IgG binding and fast mass transfer, while the Protein A ligand has been engineered for enhanced alkaline tolerance. This resin was subjected to a number of technical studies including evaluating dynamic and static binding capacities, alkaline stability, Protein A leachate propensity, impurity clearance, and pressure–flow behavior. The results demonstrated similar static binding capacities as those achieved with industry standard agarose Protein A resins, but marginally lower dynamic binding capacities. Removal of impurities from the process stream, particularly host cell proteins, was molecule dependent, but in most instances matched the performance of the agarose resins. This resin was stable in 0.1 M NaOH for at least 100 h with little loss in binding capacity, with Protein A ligand leakage levels comparable to values for the agarose resins. Pressure–flow experiments in lab‐scale chromatography columns demonstrated minimal resin compression at typical manufacturing flow rates. Prediction of resin compression in manufacturing scale columns did not suggest any pressure limitations upon scale up. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 30:1125–1136, 2014     

Expression of aChlamydia anticarbohydrate single-chain antibody as a maltose binding fusion protein

A single-chain antibody fragment has been constructed for an antibody that binds to theChlamydia specific carbohydrate structure of the lipopolysaccharide. Single-chain protein was expressed and secreted into the periplasmic space ofE. coli as a fusion protein with the maltose binding protein. The fusion protein was purified in one step by virtue of its ability to bind to maltose. In a sandwich ELISA, the eluted protein boundChlamydia lipopolysaccharide, which demonstrates that the single-chain protein domain will function as part of a fusion protein. The expression of maltose binding fusion proteins into the periplasmic space could be used for production of other single-chain antibodies or protein fragments requiring appropriate folding and disulfide bond formation.     

A new tool for monoclonal antibody analysis: Application of IdeS proteolysis in IgG domain-specific characterization

Monoclonal antibody (mAb) products are extraordinarily heterogeneous due to the presence of a variety of enzymatic and chemical modifications, such as deamidation, isomerization, oxidation, glycosylation, glycation, and terminal cyclization. The modifications in different domains of the antibody molecule can result in different biological consequences. Therefore, characterization and routine monitoring of domain-specific modifications are essential to ensure the quality of the therapeutic antibody products. For this purpose, a rapid and informative methodology was developed to examine the heterogeneity of individual domains in mAb products. A recently discovered endopeptidase, IdeS, cleaves heavy chains below the hinge region, producing F(ab')₂ and Fc fragments. Following reduction of disulfide bonds, three antibody domains (LC, Fd, and Fc/2) can be released for further characterization. Subsequent analyses by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, capillary isoelectric focusing, and glycan mapping enable domain-specific profiling of oxidation, charge heterogeneity, and glycoform distribution. When coupled with reversed phase chromatography, the unique chromatographic profile of each molecule offers a simple strategy for an identity test, which is an important formal test for biopharmaceutical quality control purposes. This methodology is demonstrated for a number of IgGs of different subclasses (IgG1, IgG2, IgG4), as well as an Fc fusion protein. The presented technique provides a convenient platform approach for scientific and formal therapeutic mAb product characterization. It can also be applied in regulated drug substance batch release and stability testing of antibody and Fc fusion protein products, in particular for identity and routine monitoring of domain-specific modifications.     

Effect of Bcl‐xL overexpression on sialylation of Fc‐fusion protein in recombinant Chinese hamster ovary cell cultures

The sialic acid of glycoproteins secreted by recombinant Chinese hamster ovary (rCHO) cells can be impaired by sialidase under culture conditions which promote the extracellular accumulation of this enzyme. To investigate the effect of Bcl‐x_L overexpression on the sialylation of glycoproteins produced in rCHO cell culture, two rCHO cell lines producing the same Fc‐fusion protein, which were derived from DUKX‐B11 and DG44, respectively, were engineered to have regulated Bcl‐x_L overexpression using the Tet‐off system. For both cell lines, Bcl‐x_L overexpression improved cell viability and extended culture longevity in batch cultures. As a result, a maximum Fc‐fusion protein titer increased by Bcl‐x_L overexpression though the extent of titer enhancement differed between the two cell lines. With Bcl‐x_L overexpression, the sialylation of Fc‐fusion protein, which was assessed by isoelectric focusing gel and sialic acid content analyses, decreased more slowly toward the end of batch cultures. This was because Bcl‐x_L overexpression delayed the extracellular accumulation of sialidase activity by reducing cell lysis during batch cultures. Taken together, Bcl‐x_L overexpression in rCHO cell culture increased Fc‐fusion protein production and also reduced the impairment of sialylation of Fc‐fusion protein by maintaining high viability during batch cultures. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 31:1133–1136, 2015     

一种新型改良硫氧还蛋白融合表达体系的建立及cathelicidin家族Lf-CATH2的表达

通过改良硫氧还蛋白融合表达体系,原核表达cathelicidin家族抗菌肽Lf-CATH2。首先在Lf-CATH2基因上游加入凝血酶位点,并去除p ET32α载体的凝血酶序列和S标签序列,构建优化的Lf-CATH2-p ET32α-TS载体,于大肠杆菌中表达。产物融合蛋白经凝血酶切割释放Lf-CATH2,纯化后进行抗菌活性检测。结果表明改良的硫氧还蛋白融合表达体系显著提高酶切效率达37%,Lf-CATH2在新体系中获得了可溶性高表达,且保留了抗菌活性。因此该新型硫氧还蛋白融合表达体系,有望为cathelicidin家族及其他阳离子活性肽提供更好的原核表达载体工具。     

A novel feature extraction approach for microarray data based on multi-algorithm fusion

Feature extraction is one of the most important and effective method to reduce dimension in data mining, with emerging of high dimensional data such as microarray gene expression data. Feature extraction for gene selection, mainly serves two purposes. One is to identify certain disease-related genes. The other is to find a compact set of discriminative genes to build a pattern classifier with reduced complexity and improved generalization capabilities. Depending on the purpose of gene selection, two types of feature extraction algorithms including ranking-based feature extraction and set-based feature extraction are employed in microarray gene expression data analysis. In ranking-based feature extraction, features are evaluated on an individual basis, without considering inter-relationship between features in general, while set-based feature extraction evaluates features based on their role in a feature set by taking into account dependency between features. Just as learning methods, feature extraction has a problem in its generalization ability, which is robustness. However, the issue of robustness is often overlooked in feature extraction. In order to improve the accuracy and robustness of feature extraction for microarray data, a novel approach based on multi-algorithm fusion is proposed. By fusing different types of feature extraction algorithms to select the feature from the samples set, the proposed approach is able to improve feature extraction performance. The new approach is tested against gene expression dataset including Colon cancer data, CNS data, DLBCL data, and Leukemia data. The testing results show that the performance of this algorithm is better than existing solutions.     

Generation and antitumor effects of an engineered and energized fusion protein VL-LDP-AE composed of single-domain antibody and lidamycin

Type IV collagenase plays a pivotal role in invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis of tumor. Single domain antibodies are attractive as tumor-targeting vehicle because of their much smaller size com-pared with antibody molecules produced by conventional methods. Lidamycin (LDM) is a potent enediyne-containing antitumor antibiotic. In this study an engineered and energized fusion protein VL-LDP-AE composed of lidamycin and VL domain of mAb 3G11 directed against type IV collagenase was prepared using a novel two-step method. First a VL-LDP fusion protein was constructed by DNA recombination. Secondly VL-LDP-AE was obtained by molecular reconstitution. In MTT assay, VL-LDP-AE showed potent cytotoxicity to HT-1080 cells and KB cells with IC50 values of 8.55×10-12 and 1.70×10-11 mol/L, respectively. VL-LDP-AE showed antiangiogenic activity in chick chrorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay and tube formation assay. In in vivo experiments, VL-LDP-AE was proved to be more effective than free LDM against the growth of subcutaneously transplanted hepatoma 22 in mice. Drugs were given intravenously on day 3 and 10 after tumor transplantation. Compared in terms of maximal tolerated doses, VL-LDP-AE at 0.25 mg/kg suppressed the tumor growth by 89.5%, LDM at 0.05 mg/kg by 69.9%, and mitomycin at 1 mg/kg by 35%. Having a molecular weight of 25.2 kDa, VL-LDP-AE was much smaller than other reported antibody-based drugs. The results suggested that VL-LDP-AE would be a promising candidate for tumor targeting therapy. And the 2-step approach could serve as a new technology platform for making a series of highly potent engineered antibody-based drugs for a variety of cancers.